However one sees the British GP clash between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, one thing's for sure - the rivalry is now heated up.
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In the end, it is something of a shame that the 2021 British Grand Prix will be remembered mostly for the crash between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. The weekend saw the first ever sprint qualifying session take place, as well as a qualifying session on a Friday. The race also saw a packed and raucous capacity crowd fill out Silverstone. It also saw Hamilton put in an amazing drive to snatch a hard-fought win. The takeaways from the race were plentiful and action packed. Yet the major talking point was the opening lap crash between the two title rivals.
It didn’t stop after the race because, of course, the teams and drivers did little to quell the fire. Red Bull Racing went on the offence, with team principal Christian Horner slamming Hamilton.
“Lewis is a seven-times world champion and that was an amateur’s mistake and a desperate mistake. We were very lucky someone wasn’t seriously injured.
“You are putting a fellow competitor’s safety in jeopardy. Every GP driver knows that it is a massive risk that you do not stick a wheel up the inside there without there being huge consequences.”
The team’s director of motorsport Helmut Marko joined in on the act, demanding Hamilton get a one-race ban. Naturally, Mercedes stood by their man.
“Everybody has an opinion, and that’s OK,” Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff told reporters in response.
“Of course every team will have a certain bias towards incidents like that. “It is a situation that I guess we all have seen in the past when great drivers race with each other.
“When nobody is prepared to give in, then these kind of situations can happen. But for me it takes two to tango.”
The truth of the situation is that neither driver was technically at fault, while both could have prevented it from happening.
Once Verstappen went a little wide on the Copse corner, the room was there for Hamilton to attack – which he did. But Verstappen, in a split second, turned in ever so slightly to cover his line and the collision took place.
Verstappen and Hamilton collide!
The title rivals come together at Copse, pitching Verstappen into a high-speed crash.
The Dutchman was able to walk away but he has been taken to hospital for precautionary checks#BritishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/ol1s9dRJoa
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 18, 2021
Verstappen could have chosen to yield the place and live to fight through the race. Hamilton, for his part, could have simply chosen to yield given he wasn’t entirely ahead.
Yet it would be hugely uncharectarestic of either driver to yield in the given situation – which is why neither did. And which is why the crash took place.
But while the crash seemed unintentional, it will have a simple consequence of adding some heat to the rivalry between the two drivers.
This is the first time both drivers are directly involved in a fight for the world driver’s championship. And so far this season, there has been an air of mutual respect around the two.
Glad I’m ok. Very disappointed with being taken out like this. The penalty given does not help us and doesn’t do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on track. Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behavior but we move on pic.twitter.com/iCrgyYWYkm
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 18, 2021
Not anymore. The Hungarian Grand Prix can’t come soon enough.
Yet perhaps more than the crash between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, the focus should be on how both teams reacted.
Both Mercedes and Red Bull moved swiftly to make their case, with both putting in radio messages to the FIA. Wolff even had to march to the stewards to show a diagram of the move to prove his point.
Which brings us to an important question – do teams need to relax with the constant complains?
It was Bottas who recently said that teams are looking to one-up each other with complains at every given opportunity, after he was penalised for spinning in the pit lane during the Styrian GP.
The move led to him getting a three-place grid penalty after qualifying. To say he wasn’t pleased is an understatement.
“When there’s an opportunity they complain that it’s dangerous etc, so we get penalised. That’s how it goes. Everyone’s trying to screw you over in this sport.”
Red Bull’s side was eventually taken as Hamilton served a ten-second penalty. That he still wound up winning the race led to calls for a harsher punishment.
Yet it is reaching a point where driver’s are seemingly penalised for every little infraction. Sergio Perez famously copped two penalties in the Styrian GP, as did AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda.
Lando Norris also got a penalty for what at the time seemed like a clear racing move. Yet some radio moaning led to a penalty being issued.
And while the sport and FIA should be commended for making safety such a big deal, it probably shouldn’t reach a point where even standard racing duels are outlawed in the name of keeping the sport safe.
Because, after all, what would be the point of the sport if the races cannot be won on the track.
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