Verstappen can only watch as Mercedes dominate

Max Verstappen was dealt a blow in his attempt to win tomorrow’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, when his Red Bull broke down in practice.

The afternoon running in Imola for the second instalment of the championship was barely 10 minutes old when a mechanical failure ended Verstappen’s participation.

The Dutchman, attempting to avenge defeat by Lewis Hamilton at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix last month, pulled over at the end of the pit straight before returning to the Red Bull garage, with his team reporting a suspected driveshaft failure.

Verstappen, who had managed only five laps, was left as a helpless bystander as Valtteri Bottas completed a practice double for Mercedes ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen will be back for qualifying today, but the loss of track time could prove costly for the 23-year-old as he looks to take the title fight to Hamilton.

The Briton had opened his campaign to win an unprecedented eighth world championship with a defensive masterclass to keep Verstappen

at bay and win in Bahrain, but in terms of outright pace Mercedes had few answers for Verstappen and Red Bull at the curtain-raiser. However, the black machines appear in better shape in Imola after completing a one-two finish in both sessions yesterday.

Bottas ended the day just 0.010sec clear of Hamilton, with Alphatauri’s Pierre Gasly in third, 0.078 off the pace.

“The team have worked really hard to try to understand what happened at the last race, where we were weak and how we could tweak the set-up, but the track has come to our direction, too,” Hamilton said.

“We have good pace but we have not seen the best from Red Bull yet, because they have had messy sessions. It will be interesting to see tomorrow how quick they are.”

The afternoon action proved largely uneventful in comparison to the morning session, when Alpine’s Esteban Ocon and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez collided and Nikita Mazepin crashed out in his Haas.

A widespread technical failure at Imola meant that drivers were unable to speak with their respective pit walls over the radio.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc finished fourth and fifth respectively for Ferrari.