
Formula 1 world witnessed a tight wheel-to-wheel battle between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton on opening lap of British Grand Prix at Silverstone. Suddenly the fight ended, and race temporarily stopped, following Verstappen’s huge crash, following collision with Hamilton, who wins the race.
Hamilton made a better start and continuously pushing pole sitter Verstappen. The local hero went for a move up the inside the racing-line of Max at Copse, the two cars clipped rea-wheels and front wing and the Dutch man raced into the barrier at top speed.
Max managed to pull himself out of his heavily damaged Red Bull car before standing bent over and then led away to an ambulance. There was relief among the fans and a round of applause as he managed to offer a wave.
After the incident red flag provisionally suspended the race, Hamilton received a 10-second penalty for the crash, eventually the Seven-time world champion chased down Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to win his home grand prix and slashed Verstappen’s lead in the title standings to eight points.
Red Bull’s advisor Helmut Marko believes Hamilton should get a one-race ban
“You can’t do that with the normal sporting code. I don’t know what the maximum penalty would be, but such dangerous and reckless behaviour should be punished with a suspension or something,” Marko told Sky Germany.
“If a competitor massively touches our rear wheel with his front wheel, then that’s no longer a racing accident in the fastest corner of the track – that is negligent-to-dangerous behaviour.”
“Then they are all blind. The replays showed that quite clearly. He went into our right rear wheel with his left front wheel and sent Verstappen into the barrier,” Marko stated.
On Verstappen’s health condition, Marko said: “He was conscious throughout, he’s very heavily winded. It’s a hell of a shunt, probably the biggest of his career and totally unnecessary. Thankfully he got out of the car unaided. He’s battered and bruised.”