What happened on the track?
The first round resulted in a furious fight between Max Verstappen (Red Bull) and Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes). Attacked several times by the world champion, the Dutchman managed to keep the advantage of his pole position until turn 8. On the outskirts of Copse, Hamilton then attempted an extremely daring overtaking from the inside. The two cars were almost at the same height but Verstappen was able to keep a few centimeters ahead despite everything. Due to his position inside, Hamilton was logically the first to brake, followed by the championship leader who took a good two meters lead. Except that the right rear wheel of the Red Bull hit the left front tire of the Mercedes. The Dutchman's single-seater lost its trajectory before goingembed at 300 km / h in the tire barrier. Staying on the track, Hamilton was able to line up at the second start and sign a masterful victory in front of his home crowd.
Read also: Formula 1: spectacular collision between Hamilton and Verstappen at Silverstone
How is Max Verstappen?
Red Bull's right flank was completely destroyed by the violence of the shock.
Verstappen took 51 G, 51 times his weight at impact!
He quickly left his car, greeting the spectators, supported by Ian Roberts, the FIA doctor, to an ambulance.
He seemed to be on the right track all the same.
The Dutchman joined the circuit medical center but underwent additional examinations at the hospital, from where he was released at the end of the evening.
Without injury.
“
Everything is ok,
” he said on social media.
Whose fault is it ?
For the race marshals, there is no doubt that Lewis Hamilton is at fault since the Briton received a penalty of ten seconds. The sanction, however, seems fairly lenient. Red Bull is not losing its temper. The team considers it impossible to pass Hamilton at this point. Christian Horner referred to a “
desperate
”
attack
in one of the fastest corners of the season and called Hamilton's driving “
dirty
”. At Mercedes, we consider that the maneuver was, on the contrary, perfectly legitimate since there was space inside the bend to pass. What is true. "
I passed him, I went to the right and I was quite far up to him, but then I could see that he was not going to fall back,
”Hamilton defended. "
Perhaps Lewis was not completely on the rope, but it is also true that Max was quite aggressive on the outside
", estimates Charles Leclerc (2nd on Ferrari) who sums up the position of the paddock quite well: wrongs do seem to be shared. This is an unfortunate racing incident. Everyone will make their own opinion, with, as often, their arguments and their attachment to one or the other of the protagonists.
Why did Hamilton's reaction to the podium make people react?
In front of his home crowd and thanks to this victory, Hamilton is eight points behind Max Verstappen in the championship. The Briton did not shy away from his pleasure on the podium. Should he have kept a low profile, as the Red Bull clan regretted after the race, calling his behavior "
unacceptable
"? “
Honestly no. I have nothing to say to Christian (Horner, Editor's note), except that the victory is not in vain,
”said the winner. The uncontained joy of “King Lewis” did not please Verstappen at all: “
I saw him celebrate the victory while I was still in the hospital. What a lack of respect. It is unsportsmanlike behavior. But OK,
let's move on. "
To read also: GP of Great Britain: the great anger of Verstappen towards Hamilton
What consequences can this have on the rest of the championship?
The reunion is likely to be tense in Budapest on August 1 between the two men. As we know, Max Verstappen is a warm-blooded driver, even hot, and, if the two drivers respect each other, the rivalry has undoubtedly reached a plateau on Sunday. So much the better for the show: the championship is totally revived with these two new icons of the discipline. Let's hope that the showdown remains manly, but correct, and above all without overflow, on and off the track. Sunday evening, a publication on the social networks of the Mercedes team, for example, was accompanied by lamentable reactions from Internet users posting racist monkey emojis. The two teams condemned the messages and called for sanctions. Hamilton must, no matter what,expect a strong reception on the land of his rival, in Zandvoort, on September 5 in the Netherlands.
British GP: F1, FIA and Mercedes condemn "racist abuse" against Hamilton
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