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Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12, battles with Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB16B
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Opinion

How Verstappen and Hamilton’s Imola clash sets the tone for F1’s 2021 title fight

In Max Verstappen's Formula 1 career to date, he has been cast as the 'pretender', an acknowledged top-line performer without the car to regularly challenge Lewis Hamilton. But that no longer applies in 2021, and the start to the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix was the most telling signal yet of what we can expect from their duel this year

There was plenty for Formula 1 fans to enjoy in last weekend’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

The absent Tifosi willing on Charles Leclerc as he delivered a near faultless weekend. British motorsport fans enjoying Lando Norris and George Russell impressing yet again, with surely all fans erupting in relief when the latter and Valtteri Bottas were able to climb out of the wreckage of their enormous accident and engage in further theatrics in the gravel trap.

There was much for the various partisan fanbases to cheer and jeer – but for the neutral there was surely no better moment than Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton going wheel-to-wheel once again for the lead, this time clashing.

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