Jos Verstappen 'enjoyed' seeing Max lap Hamilton

Jos Verstappen admits that he enjoyed the rare sight of his son Max lapping Lewis Hamilton in last Sunday's Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.

Verstappen and Red Bull were in a league of their own at Imola, where the Dutchman and his team revived their championship ambitions with a near perfect masterclass display.

Although George Russell limited the damage in the Mercedes camp by finishing fourth, Hamilton was never a contender in Italy, the seven-time world champion concluding his day a lowly P14 and suffering the chagrin of being lapped by Verstappen, his former arch-rival and F1's reigning world champion.

"Honestly, I did enjoy seeing Max lap Hamilton after everything that happened last year," Jos wrote in a column on Verstappen official website.

"Hamilton really had a tough time, whereas his teammate George Russell seemed to be more balanced. It’s not often you have the opportunity to lap a Mercedes."

Red Bull motorsport boss Helmut Marko, adding insult to injury in the wake of Hamilton's depressing performance, told Sky: "Maybe he should have stopped last year!"

But a less sarcastic Christian Horner said the moment was hardly significant.

• Red Bull: Phenomenal Imola performance 'just the rebound' we needed

"Obviously Lewis didn't have a great weekend, but we're very much focused on our race and just trying to extract the maximum points," said the Red Bull team boss.

"It was obviously one of those things but, at that point, we're looking at the clouds and was the rain going to come in that last part of the race or not? We were more focused on that.

"He [Hamilton] hasn’t forgotten how to drive in the last four races so at some point they will sort their issues out and he will become a factor."

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