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Formula 1

Max Verstappen is in control of this year's Formula 1 championship battle

The Red Bull driver has taken four wins in the past five races and only did not win them all because his left rear tyre exploded when he was leading five laps from the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. Two months ago, after Lewis Hamilton won the Spanish Grand Prix to take the Mercedes driver's third win of the opening four races, Verstappen was 14 points behind the seven-time champion. Now, with nine races completed, Verstappen leads Hamilton by 32 points. There may well be, as Verstappen keeps reminding everyone, a long way to go - although with the pandemic still in full swing, no one is quite sure exactly how many races there will be this season - but it is looking harder and harder to see a way back for Hamilton from this. As Hamilton put it himself on Sunday: "Max is walking away with it right now and there is not really much we can do about it."