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Max Verstappen laughs off Baku backlash and readies Spanish riposte

The Red Bull driver’s errors are recurring and a win at the track where he burst on to the scene two years ago would be timelyA somewhat contrite and possibly even cowed Max Verstappen may have been expected to emerge in the paddock for this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix. The young Dutchman’s poor start to the season reached its nadir when he crashed into his Red Bull team-mate, Daniel Ricciardo, at the last round in Baku, but Verstappen faced down the scrutiny with a smile at the Circuit de Catalunya. However, if he is to make good on the promise of his prodigious talent, there is some serious work to be done.Verstappen and Ricciardo had been wheel to wheel for...

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Lewis Hamilton on top but Mercedes face uphill battle to match Ferrari | Giles Richards

How Mercedes fare in Barcelona will be telling – they must work the tyres at the correct temperature to unlock performanceLewis Hamilton was absolutely honest after his unlikely victory in Baku. He knew he had inherited a win that with three laps to go was looking like a third place and a further deficit to Sebastian Vettel in the world championship. He came out of it on top and rightly did not opt to celebrate as he might have were it a harder won victory. He is four points ahead of Vettel but made it clear that relying on good fortune would not be enough in what is shaping up to be a highly contested season. The reality, Hamilton knows,...

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Max Verstappen will need to learn fast from Shanghai overtaking fiasco | Giles Richards

The driver’s poorly judged attempt at overtaking Sebastian Vettel in China suggests it is time for the youngster to add a more considered approach to his undoubted raw talentAt the opening of the Formula One season, Max Verstappen was as confident in his own abilities as he ever had been. The young Dutchman has carried this self-assurance since he began in karting and it has been part and parcel of his career in F1.With the new season about to begin, he told my colleague Donald McRae that he felt no need to overthink his craft. “I never even think of the mental side of things because I never had any issues,” he said. But his poorly judged attempt at overtaking...

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Mercedes confidence is an ominous sign after Barcelona F1 testing | Giles Richards

Mercedes look like being the team to beat again, while Ferrari and McLaren both have much work to doThe dominant force in F1 for the past four years, Mercedes appear to show no sign of relinquishing their stranglehold. Last year’s championship-winning car, which was quick but temperamental, has undergone an evolution over the winter that looks alarming for their rivals. They clocked the most laps with 1,040 and, although only seventh on the time sheets, their pace in race simulations was relentlessly good, half a second a lap up on Ferrari and eight-tenths on Red Bull. The team chose not to run the car on the fastest hyper‑soft rubber, unconcerned about setting a single lap marker, and Lewis Hamilton, who...

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