Lew woe as home fans denied

Lewis Hamilton wrote off a record eighth world title this season as Max Verstappen ruined Ferrari’s return to Italy.

Hamilton finished 14th in yesterday’s sprint race, 41.4 seconds behind Verstappen after 21 laps of racing in Imola.

The world champion passed Charles Leclerc on the second last lap to secure pole for today’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Hamilton, already 50 points behind Leclerc in the standings, said: “We are obviously not fighting for the championship.

“We are fighting to understand the car, improve and progress through the year. That’s all we can hope for now.

“Ultimately we haven’t got it right but everyone’s working as hard as they can to reverse it.” The 37-year-old declared “it is not in my DNA to pack up” as he added: “We are still world champions and we can fix this.

“It is just going to take longer than expected and it will be a painful year that we will have to ride out together.”

Signs of tension were evident after qualifying on Friday, with Hamilton and chief Toto Wolff involved in a heated exchange at the back of Mercedes’ garage.

Attempting to play down the dispute, Wolff said: “It’s quite funny how it’s being interpreted. Lewis and I shared frustration that we weren’t able to extract performance. It was basically the same point of view and sheer anger. There’s no division and no blame. There’s pressure to get it right but nobody in the team is enjoying the ride at the moment. We just need to dig ourselves out of the hole.

“Today marks the low of this first four races. And it’s obvious we’re not anywhere near the fight at the front.”

Ferrari and Red Bull are the class of the field, with Leclerc and Verstappen trading blows.

Verstappen started f irst before losing the lead to Leclerc following a slow getaway.

But, after a frenetic finale, Verstappen ruined Ferrari’s homecoming party by fighting his way ahead of Leclerc at the Variante Tamburello to take the chequered flag and finish 2.9 seconds clear.