An aggressive approach initially paid off for Lewis Hamilton as he overtook Max Verstappen at the start of this race. Verstappen called Hamilton a “stupid idiot” and directed a middle finger at his rival when their cars almost made contact during a practice session on Friday. Verstappen had entered the weekend with a six-point lead over Hamilton with six races remaining. “He’s quicker than me right now,” Hamilton said on the team radio. After 30 laps, Verstappen came in for his second stop, adding hard tyres, allowing Hamilton to regain first place. With five laps to go, Hamilton was less than two seconds behind Verstappen, but the Red Bull responded and held him off – just. With Hamilton sandwiched between the Red Bulls and Bottas distant, there was a potential on-track advantage for Verstappen.

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