Mercedes haven’t been able to support Lewis Hamilton with their car. The seven-time Formula 1 champion endured further humiliation of being lapped by his arch-rival Max Verstappen in the 40th lap, during the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, as he finished in P13.

After the race ended, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff apologised to Hamilton over the team radio. Wolff said, via Marca: “Lewis, hi, sorry for what you have needed to drive today.”

“I know that this is undriveable and not what we deserved to score as a result.”

Lewis Hamilton is currently in seventh place in the F1 drivers’ standings. This is his worst start since the 2010 season. Hamilton is now almost 60 points behind Charles Leclerc, who is in first place.

Lewis Hamilton thinks he is definitely out of the F1 championship race

Lewis Hamilton said: “I am out of the championship, for sure, there’s no question about that, but I’ll still keep working hard and try and somehow pull it back together somehow.”

“Everyone’s feeling it, and everyone’s just head down trying their best, there’s no one that’s giving up, everyone is trying to move forward as fast as they can.”

Wolff said Mercedes needs to fix Hamilton’s car at the end of the race: “We are not good enough for a world champion – and we just need to fix the car.”