It had to happen! And it did, on Sunday July 18th at Silverstone; the coming together of Max Verstappen and Sir Lewis hamilton. Fortunately, Verstappen walked away reletively unscathed apart from being winded, and was taken to hospital for an extensive checkup as a precaution.

So, what happened! Well, some would say that it was just a racing incident, and I would go along with that. But, it’s very easy to be biased one way or the other, a bit like football supporters creating havoc when their team loses; lost because the best team won, end of story. Let’s have a look at the lead-up to the crash:

Leading up to this position, Verstappen had already swerved twice to prevent Hamilton from advancing, and left Hamilton no choice but to take the inside line. I think it was obvious that Verstappen knew Hamilton was there.

At this point, Verstappen was seen to steer sharply to the right, forcing Hamilton to move to the right and back-off slightly to avoid a collision. This was a very aggressive move and contributed greatly to the final result. Prior to this, they both could have completed the corner. Who would have been in front at the next corner was irrelevant, But, at this moment, Verstappen was the aggressor, and must have known that Hamilton was still on the inside of him.

And the inevitable happened! At 180mph, Hamilton must have braked hard to try and avoid the collision, whereas Verstappen had only one goal in mind – to make sure he was in front after the corner.

Reaction from the pits:

Horner was onto Michael Massi before the dust had even settled on Verstappen’s car, blaming Hamilton, saying that he shouldn’t have been trying to overtake on that corner as it was the fastest corner in Formular 1. Toto Wolff, hearing of the conversation, then called Michael Massi, and was told to go and see the stewards, which he did. Horner, hearing of this, decided that he needed to go and see the stewards also; if Wolff was going, so was he! Consequently, Hamilton got a 10 second penalty, no doubt as a result of the stewards having to appease Red Bull to calm-down the situation, but we’ll never know that for sure.

Then we get to Marko! Well, I’m not sure what he actually does at Red Bull. Allegedly, he’s the advisor to Red Bull’s Driver Development Programme. So, what he actually does in the pits on race weekends is anybody’s guess. For an ex racing driver with zero career points, zero wins and zero poles, I can’t work it out. For him to start bleating about how many points Red Bull have lost, the cost of repairing The RB16, announcing to the world that Hamilton should get a ban for causing the collision and that Red Bull would hire a lawyer because the 10 second penalty wasn’t enough, I think he’s lost the plot. I don’t remember Hamilton making a song and dance out of his DNF when he accidentally caught his brake button, he and Mercedes accepted it and carried-on. I don’t remember Mercedes making a song and dance about the collision between Bottas and Russell, although I understand that Russell is a Mercedes driver, they just accepted it and carried-on.

Furthermore, Perez was pitted from P10 for fresh tires to achieve fastest lap, which he did. So Red Bull threw-away the one point for finishing in P10, to not earn one point for the fastest lap because Perez was then outside the top 10. However, Perez lost his point, just so Red Bull could spite Hamilton; absolutely pathetic reaction which highlights the disregard for any attempt at fair play. Yes, the toys were thrown out of the cot, big time.

After race celebration:

I must admit that I partly agree with Verstappen under the circumstances. However, for Hamilton to win his Home Grand Prix for the eighth time is quite an achievement, so I can understand Hamilton’s reactions. But yes, I think the celebrations were a bit over the top, again, under the circumstances. However, I’m sure Hamilton will or already has apologised to Verstappen, and I hope they can put this episode behind them and continue with some superb racing.

Conclusion:

I’m going to have to go for “Racing Incident”. Nothing that happened as a result of Hamilton’s driving was conclusive evidence that he was wholly responsible for the collision. Vertappen’s aggression got the better of him and lost him what may have been 25 points. Had they both completed the corner, Vertappen would no doubt have earned at least 18 points, leaving him still at least 26 points in front. However, I have no doubt that Verstappen will one day be world champion. Who will be champion this season remains to be seen, but I hope the fans can look-forward to an exciting conclusion.

Best regards

Rantattack