The fight for the F1 Championship hasn’t seen this much entertainment in years, but that fight is starting to get spicy. Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have been going wheel to wheel on track, while Mercedes and Red Bull have been jawing at each other off track. These two have had many knocks this season, in fierce battle, but none more severe than what happened at the British Grand Prix.
It was only a matter of time before Hamilton and Verstappen would inevitably come together, and this race was the first of possibly multiple incidents. Verstappen, on pole, had made and even getaway with Hamilton, starting 2nd, and the pair were side by side heading through the Wellington Straight, and past Brooklands, Luffield, and Woodcote. It was on the old pit straight when Verstappen inched a half car length ahead of Hamilton. With neither driver willing to back out, Hamilton’s front left tyre hit Verstappen’s back right tyre at Copse and sent Verstappen into the barrier at 180 mph, a 51G impact. The race was red-flagged as repairs were needed to the barrier, and Verstappen was visibly shaken and took to the hospital (he’s fine).
Hamilton, who had damage, was very lucky to have not to have been caught by Verstappen’s wheel and was able to repair the damage in the pits during the red flag. Hamilton would go on to win the race over Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, despite a 10-second penalty, overtaking Leclerc on Lap 50/52 to claim to victory over the Ferrari man, who led every lap after the Hamilton-Verstappen incident.
Verstappen was not happy with Hamilton’s antics after the race, celebrating the win like nothing had happened and not acknowledging Verstappen at all. Both teams and drivers point fingers at each other for the incident, as Mercedes claim Verstappen turned in and didn’t leave enough space, but Red Bull claim Hamilton was left enough room and just drove into Verstappen.
For the championship fight, this may be a gift to F1 fans to pull the contenders together as Red Bull had won the past 5 races, with Verstappen taking 4 of those 5 wins. Verstappen’s DNF allows Hamilton to only trail by 8 points in the championship, while Lando Norris, Valtteri Bottas, and Sergio Perez round out the top 5.
The future of this season will be very interesting, as the tensions between the two at the top boil. Whoever wins the championship will have to thank their teammate though, as Bottas and Perez have both played crucial roles in Hamilton and Verstappen’s fight. Don’t count out Bottas, Perez, or Norris as an outside shot to win though, as they are a couple DNFs and bad races from Hamilton and Verstappen plus a couple wins and podiums away from joining the battle.
Don’t miss the rest of this season, it’s starting to get quite spicy!
Responses
Great article. I’m going to start paying much closer attention to F1 racing now.