By: Charles Bradley, Global Editor in Chief Motorsport.com
Irresistible force met immovable object: Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s collision in the British Grand Prix has been coming for a while now. It is like Alain Prost v Ayrton Senna… but this time with two Sennas!
Since they banged wheels at the first corner at Imola, I’ve had the feeling that Lewis felt aggrieved and ‘owed him one’. But Sunday’s incident at Copse, touching wheels at 180mph, was a massive raising of the stakes. Thankfully – after his huge accident – Verstappen was able to walk away, albeit to an ambulance and then to a hospital visit.
The opening lap of Saturday’s sprint stoked that fire: Verstappen grabbed the lead and defended it robustly. Going into Sunday, Hamilton knew that getting ahead on the opening lap was his best shot at victory – so did some desperation creep in, especially after Max chopped across him at Brooklands seconds before their collision?
My view was that it was a 60-40 clash, Hamilton deserved his penalty (which he offset completely with an excellent recovery drive) and Verstappen should reflect on whether he really needed to risk a non-score with a 33-point lead in the title race. |
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