July 18, (THEWILL) – The rivalry between Red Bull and Mercedes at the top of the Formula 1 standings took an intense turn at Silverstone. It was high drama when race leader Red Bull’s Max Verstappen suffered a high-speed crash with Mercedes AMG’s Sir Lewis Hamilton on Sunday.
Seen as the offending cause of the crash, Hamilton was handed a 10-second penalty for the incident while Verstappen was unable to continue but it made no difference in the end as the Mercedes driver, helped by some poor pit-stops from other drivers and orders from his team finished ahead of the racing pack to win his eighth British Grand Prix.
The Silverstone race had got off with Verstappen ahead and he held his pole position to keep the challenging Hamilton behind him. At every corner, Verstappen was leaving no openings to exploit and Hamilton kept seeking that chance to inch past the Red Bull driver.
In the constant corner jostle, Hamilton finally found an opportunity and raced into the lead but it was brief as Verstappen slid past the Mercedes record-equaling driver and retook his lead to restore the status quo.
That was how the race remained until the pair reached Woodcote. There, the British driver drove an excellent exit from Woodcote that allowed his car execute his throttle early and placed the Mercedes alongside the Red Bull on the inside of the turn.
But, the Dutchman saw that he had the racing line going into Copse and did not yield. And neither did Hamilton. As a result, their cars touched at high speed to catastrophic results for the Red Bull car which spun into the tyre barriers on the side after losing its right rear wheel from the collision.
Fortunately for Verstappen, he was able to walk himself away from the serious impact and the damage his car took as a consequence. Organisers immediately red-flagged the race and allowed the tyre barrier to be repaired.
But, Christian Horner, Red Bull Team Principal was incensed. He let it rip at the stewards without hiding his vexation. The Red Bull boss described Hamilton’s move as “completely out of order” and called it nothing short of “dirty driving.”
In comments made during the brief stop, Horner said of Verstappen: “Thank God he walked away, that is the biggest result we will have today. He is in the medical centre and is doing a 30-minute precautionary check. It’s so far, so good.”
Horner had justification pointing fingers at Hamilton because an investigation found him culpable and the Mercedes driver was handed a 10-second time penalty. Therefore, when the race resumed, Hamilton had to come into the pits and be motionless for 10 seconds before any work was done on his car while others kept the race going.
Those precious seconds were hard to come back from for Hamilton who had thrilled a crowd of about 86,000 at Silverstone when he took the pole in the qualifying series two days ago. Hamilton needed the victory here to cut into the solid 33-point Verstappen had garnered at the top of the drivers’ standings this season.
The penalty to Hamilton allowed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to establish a lead after the restart and Lando Norris passed Hamilton’s teammate Valtteri Bottas to take third place. Unfortunately, Leclerc struggled with power unit issues throughout, as he managed to maintain his advantage with Hamilton pitting for those 10 seconds.
However, immediately Hamilton got back on the tracks, Mercedes AMG team ordered Bottas to let Hamilton, the faster driver with better grip at that point, go past him with 10 laps remaining. This released Hamilton to close the gap on Leclerc, who Hamilton sped past with just two laps left at Copses to give Mercedes and Hamilton another incredible victory.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
