It took almost four hours for Max Verstappen to testify about the controversial touch he received from Lewis Hamilton that left him out of the Great Britain Formula 1 Grand Prix. The victory finally went to the Englishman, who only received a ten-second penalty for that maneuver . In his Twitter account, true to his style, the Dutchman did not save anything and fired with thick ammunition in relation to the decision of the sports commissioners, but also made special emphasis on the attitude of his colleague to celebrate while he was in the hospital.
“Glad to be okay. Very disappointed to have been eliminated like this ”, began the Red Bull driver who, after starting from pole position, was leading the race on the first lap and at that moment he received the impact of the Mercedes rider who made him finish against the defenses.
“The sanction imposed does not help us at all and does not do justice to the dangerous maneuver that Lewis made on the track. Watching the celebrations after the race while still in the hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behavior, but we keep going, ”added the 23-year-old competitor.
After his abandonment, Verstappen got out of the car alone and was taken to the Silverstone Autodrome medical center for the pertinent checkups. No injuries were found, except for the heavy blow from the crash.
Red Bull revealed that Verstappen’s impact with the tire barrier was recorded at 51G, and the race was stopped on a red flag so that fender repairs could be made and the heavily damaged Max RB 16B removed. It remains to be seen if the car should be replaced for the next race, something that can be a hinge in the championship since with it the still leader of the championship has obtained five victories.
Following the incident, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner sent a message to F1 race director Michael Masi to make it clear that he believed Hamilton was entirely at fault for the accident.
“As far as I’m concerned, all the blame is on Hamilton, who should never have been in that position,” he said. “He could have had a brutal accident. Thank God he was unharmed. So I hope he deals with it properly. “
On the other hand, the advisor of the Austrian team, Helmut Marko, in statements to Sky Germany said: “You cannot do that with the normal sports regulations. I don’t know what the maximum penalty would be, but such dangerous and reckless behavior should be punished with a suspension or something like that. “
Marko said he had no doubt that Hamilton was to blame for the accident, and felt it was out of the question that such an incident had occurred at a high-speed corner like Copse.
“If a competitor savagely touches our rear wheel with his front wheel, that is no longer a racing accident at the fastest corner of the circuit,” he explained. “That is negligent and dangerous behavior.”
When it was suggested that Mercedes had considered Verstappen to be at fault for the accident, Marko said: “So they are all blind. The replays showed it clearly. He went to our right rear wheel with his left front wheel and sent Verstappen over the barrier. “
After analyzing the maneuver, the sports commissioners decided to apply a ten-second penalty to Hamilton, a time that the seven-time world champion was going to be able to deduct on the track due to the level of his car. In fact he succeeded and was able to beat Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) on lap 50 (of 52) and stay with the victory at home. Nonetheless, Verstappen kept the lead in the championship.
It remains to be seen how the battle between these two riders continues throughout the 2021 financial year, which has 23 dates and there is still a long way to go. The next race will be on August 1 with the Hungarian Grand Prix at the Hungaroring Autodrome. (Infobae)