Hamilton finishe🍒d a lowly 13th in a wet-dry Emilia Romagna Grand Prix during a miserable afternoon that was compounded when he was lapped by race-winner Max Verstappen. 

It marked the latest dire perfo⭕rmance from Hamilton amid Mercedes’ struggles to fix꧋ its troubled W13 challenger. 

• Verstappen laps Hamilton to win at Imola amid Ferrari disaster
• Emilia Romagna Grand Prix - Full Race Results from Round 4
• Emilia Romag෴na GP: 🉐Charles Leclerc ‘got greedy and paid the price’

After the race, Mercedes team principal Wolff came on the radio ✃to apologise to the seven-time world champion for failiℱng to provide him with a competitive car. 

“Hi Lewis, sorry for what you have needed 🔯to drive todౠay,” Wolff said. “I know this is undriveable and not what we deserve to score as a result. 

“We move from there, but this was a terrible ra🌼ce."

A despondent ♎Hamilton 🌸replied: “Yeah, no worries, Toto. Just keep on working hard.”

Wolff responded: “Yeah, ꦜwe will come out of this.”

Speaking to Sky, Wolff admitted tha🐭t Mercedes have let Hamilton down. 

“We saw, with George, how the car can drive in free air,” he added. “But we are not good enough for a world champion. Not wౠorthy. 

ꦬ“We need to fix the car. I said sorry🧸 for the car that he needs to drive. We are going to look at things for Miami - we can make a step in the understanding of the car.” 

The resꦏult means Hamilton has fallen to seven🍨th in the championship standings, 58 points behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. 

“A weekend to forget,” Hamilton conceded. “I am out of the championship, for sure. There is no question about that. But I’ll k🌊eep working hard to put it back together✃ somehow.” 

Russell backs Hamilton to recover 

In contrast to Hamilton’s struggles, George Russell held off the late-charging Alfa Romeo of Valtteri Bဣottas in the closing stages to seal an impressive fourth place. 

The Briton capitalised on th😼e opening-lap chaos to move himself up to sixth from 11th on the grid, before passing Haas driver Kevin Magnussen and inheriting🅠 a further position when Leclerc spun out of third late on. 

Russell is now 21 points ahead of Hamilton𝕴 in the championship after the opening four rounds but backed his teammate to bounce back strongly from his wors🔴t-ever start to an F1 season. 

“The car is out of the window and it is so difficult to be consistent,” Russel🥀l said. “Lewis has the pace, he is incredibly fast. 

“It is tricky for us to g💃et it done. The tyres haven’t been in the right window. The car isn’t its true self. 

“Lewis has been massively fast, there was a blip this weekend, but he wi𓂃ll come back stronger. The way he motivates the team is inspiring. He wants more.”