Toto Wolff, the head of the Mercedes F1 team, said he “had little remorse” about the Max Verstappen 51G crash caused by Lewis Hamilton at the F1 British Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton Tomax Verstappen, who played a fierce battle over last year’s drivers’ championship, suffered two major crashes. The first crash occurred at the F1 British Grand Prix.
Lewis Hamilton, who lost in sprint qualifying on Saturday, lined up on the grid for the home race with 33 points behind point leader Max Verstappen.
Victory was a must for Lewis Hamilton.
At the start, Max Verstappen came forward, but Lewis Hamilton set in at the high-speed Cops corner and touched Verstappen’s rear wheel.
Max Verstappen went off course in that contact and crashed into the tire barrier with a 51G impact.
Lewis Hamilton was penalized with an additional 10 seconds, but he showed a raging catch-up and won the championship. Hamilton and Mercedes F1 celebrated the victory and angered the Red Bull camp while Max Verstappen was taken to the hospital.
But Toto Wolff says he has no regrets about it.
“We didn’t have much remorse on our side,” Toto Wolff said in Sky Sports F1’s 2021 F1 season documentary “Duel.”
“Lewis gave up the corner much more often before he was in a place where he shouldn’t be.”
“When I’m upset by a big shock and sitting in the hospital, I can’t understand the other teams cheering for their drivers.”
“But it was his home race and a big swing in our favor in terms of points, and we knew Max was safe.”
The incident worsened not only the relationship between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, but also the relationship between their team bosses.
Max Verstappen called the way to celebrate Lewis Hamilton’s victory “contempt”, and Hamilton said Verstappen was “too aggressive.”
Red Bull F1 team principal Christian Horner accused Lewis Hamilton of a “rookie” mistake, and Mercedes F1 accused Red Bull of a personal attack.
It is no exaggeration to say that Silverstone’s crash has put an end to the possibility of Max Verstappen moving to Mercedes F1 in the future. Jos Verstappen said Toto Wolff had revealed his true nature and that their long-term friendship was over.
Max Verstappen won the 2021 Driver’s title and two months later signed a long-term extension with Red Bull Racing to 2028.
Category: Category: F1 / Mercedes / Red bull / Max Verstappen