Lewis Hamilton and the Mercedes AMG Petronas Formula One Team finally brought an end to Red Bull Racing’s recent domination, with victory at the British Grand Prix. The race saw a high-speed collision between Hamilton and Max Verstappen on the opening lap, which saw Verstappen suffer a huge 51G impact at Copse Corner.
Lewis Hamilton drove an incredible comeback race to claim his eighth victory at Silverstone and close to within eight points of championship leader Verstappen, after the Dutchman crashed out at high speed on the opening lap.
The title-fighting pair finally collided! Verstappen defended well on the opening lap to just about keep Hamilton at bay, however on the run down to Copse for the first time, Hamilton pulled the dummy on Verstappen and moved to the inside as they headed into the corner. Then the impact came, as they both turned in Hamilton caught Verstappen’s rear tyre sending him flying into the barrier and experience a huge impact measured at 51G’s. Thankfully Verstappen is okay.
The crash saw the red flag come out and also saw Hamilton awarded a ten-second penalty.
The crash has left fans and drivers divided, some blame Hamilton for the collision for not taking a tighter line, whereas others blame Verstappen for cutting across the world champion.
When the race restarted Hamilton sat in second behind race-leader at the time Charles Leclerc before the world champion dived into the pits. The long stop due to the penalty saw Hamilton drop to fourth and fourteen seconds behind the race leader. Hamilton was not ready to give up though and quickly got past Lando Norris and team-mate Valtteri Bottas who finished third.
Hamilton was left with eleven laps to close a nine second gap and with two laps remaining he did just that. Hamilton made the move for the race lead again at Copse, this time with both Hamilton and Leclerc coming out of the corner unscathed. The double podium for Mercedes see’s them now only four points behind Red Bull.
Team Principal Toto Wolff is glad Verstappen is okay, but believes the incident which has divided many people’s opinion was simply two of the best drivers not giving in to each other.
“We have seen a dramatic and exciting race today with Lewis winning the British Grand Prix again and catching Charles at the end – I think that was something for everybody. As for the incident between Lewis and Max, it always takes two to Tango and these two competitors were not giving each other an inch.
“It’s a high speed corner and that’s why these things are nasty to look at, but there is a clear regulation that is black and white on paper – if the front axle is over the middle of the car on the outside, it is your corner.
“This is a championship where the greatest driver of all time, a seven-time world champion is fighting with a tool that is maybe not as good as the other car, driven by an up and coming star who is trying to make his mark. And they collided and crashed. We have seen that in days before and with all the great rivalries in history, and this is what happened today. The most important thing is that Max is fine, and the rest of the race was great.”
