Max Verstappen has criticised Lewis Hamilton for the collision which caused him to retire from the British Grand Prix yesterday.
The incident between Verstappen and Hamilton on lap one of the race sent the Red Bull driver into the tyre barriers at Copse corner at approximately 51G.
The two drivers went side by side approaching the high-speed corner before making tyre-to-tyre contact.
Verstappen was able to extract himself from the car but was later sent to hospital for precautionary checks, before later being released.
The incident brought out the red flag, which stopped the race for over half an hour.
Hamilton was able to continue but was given a 10-second penalty shortly after the restart for the incident, which was served at his first pit stop.
That dropped him down to fifth, but the Mercedes driver was able to fight back through the field and passed Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc with three laps remaining to win the race in front of his home crowd.
Prior to the Grand Prix, Verstappen had a 33-point lead over Hamilton at the top of the World Drivers’ Championship. That has been reduced to eight points as a result of the Brit’s victory at Silverstone.
What has Verstappen said?
Posting on social media after getting the all-clear, Verstappen hit out at Hamilton over the incident.
On Twitter, he said: “Glad I’m ok.
“Very disappointed with being taken out like this. The penalty given does not help us and doesn’t do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on the track.
“Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behaviour but we move on.”
What has Hamilton said?
Speaking post-race after his victory, Hamilton told Sky Sports: “I just don’t feel like he [Verstappen] needs to be as aggressive as he is.
“I tried to give him the space but I was quite a long way up on the inside into [turn] nine and none of us backed out, and that was the end result.
“I took the penalty, of course, and it’s never one person’s fault. It’s always a balance of the two.”
He later added, as part of his response to a separate question: “I’ve managed for a long time without colliding with someone, but when someone is just too aggressive, these things are bound to happen.
“I hope he’s ok. Of course I would love to have a wheel-to-wheel battle for the whole race.
“I enjoy racing with him and I am looking forward, but I will never back down from anyone and I would naturally not be bullied into being less aggressive.
“I think today, this weekend, we needed the points and there was a gap, he left a gap, and I went for it.”
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