Formula One

[Jimbuna]

Lewis Hamilton fought back from a 10-second penalty for a crash with title rival Max Verstappen to pass Ferrari's Charles Leclerc for a dramatic victory in the British Grand Prix.

Hamilton was blamed for a collision with Verstappen's Red Bull at Copse corner on the first lap of the race, which led to the Dutchman crashing out.

Verstappen, 23, was taken to hospital for precautionary tests after the accident while Hamilton set about trying to win the race.

The Grand Prix was stopped after the incident with Leclerc in the lead from Hamilton and the Ferrari driver held that position until two laps from the end, when the Mercedes driver passed him, ironically, at the same corner at which he had crashed with Verstappen.

The controversial win, in front of a crowd of 140,0000, was Hamilton's eighth in the British Grand Prix and cuts Verstappen's championship lead to eight points after a race that will go down in the annals of F1 history.

[Buddahaid]

Booo!

[Jimbuna]

^ For Hamilton or Verstappen?

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

^ For Hamilton or Verstappen?

You can argue it was just a racing incident but as Christian Horner said, you don't try to stick a wheel on the inside of that high speed corner and the stewards agreed slapping Lewis on the wrist while Max is out of the race. The only fair outcome would have been both cars retiring. As it was Lewis CAUSING an accident resulted in his gaining better tha 25 points and more likely 35 points on his rival.

[Cyborg322]

^ Don't disagree with most of that but I don't think it was deliberate Hamilton had to go for lead position in those first few corners using the slipstream or the quicker Red Bull would of got too far ahead on the long straights once that gap had opened up it would of been difficult for Hamilton to get in front of Verstappen. Does not seem fair I know but it tends to be swings and roundabouts with these incidents. It will be interesting to see how both drivers tackle the next race. I think this incident was almost inevitable at some point given both guys driving styles

Simon

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by Cyborg322

^ Don't disagree with most of that but I don't think it was deliberate Hamilton had to go for lead position in those first few corners using the slipstream or the quicker Red Bull would of got too far ahead on the long straights once that gap had opened up it would of been difficult for Hamilton to get in front of Verstappen. Does not seem fair I know but it tends to be swings and roundabouts with these incidents. It will be interesting to see how both drivers tackle the next race. I think this incident was almost inevitable at some point given both guys driving styles

Simon

I hear you and the sprint definetly gave a hint into the future, still, it shows Lewis was desperate enough for the lead to the point of losing sight of position. I don't blame him at all as it was a fair gamble, but the result was overbalanced in Lewis's favour. Lewis was rewarded by knocking the lead car out of the race and I hope he chokes on the victory.

[HunterICX]

Originally Posted by Cyborg322

^ Don't disagree with most of that but I don't think it was deliberate

No Hamilton would never do that:



Just another one he gets away with (that 10 sec penalty is a laugh, a black flag was in place for this kind of action), the guy has a weak character especially how he behaved after he basically crashed someone 300km/h into wall of tires having to experience roughly 50G's of an impact and claims he's not at fault.

[stork100]

^ Agreed 100% @HunterICX. Not clean racing.

[Threadfin]

Max left him room and still got punted off the track at high speed. All on Hamilton in my view and the slap on the wrist penalty does not fit the crime.


When Hamilton was doing his victory lap, flag streaming, I flipped him off and switched the channel. Here's hoping this bad juju follows him to season's end.

[Skybird]

Foul manouver by Hamilton.
Foul play by the officials letting him get away with it.
Most disgusting his arrogant posing afterwards.

Awful.

[MGR1]

Not good.

The sheer dominance of the Mercedes/Hamilton combination put me off F1 just before live race coverage went completely pay-per-view here in the UK.

Good to see that the other big teams are managing to get back to being competitive again.

Mike.

[Jimbuna]

I see merit in all the posts above but don't think Hamilton acted as he did with dark motives in his head.

People want to see more risks taken in F1 and this certainly lit up the race straight from the off.

Not going to lecture anyone regarding one driver or the other but if you look up previous race crashes with Verstappen behind the wheel you soon reach the point where "Oh he's still young and inexperienced" start sounding lame.

I'm still of the opinion Verstappen is the current favourite for this years title but there is a long way to go yet and these two are clear firm favourites/contenders, so more of what happened yesterday may well be on the books.

[HunterICX]

Originally Posted by Jimbuna

I see merit in all the posts above but don't think Hamilton acted as he did with dark motives in his head.

As stated before, this is not his first time where he puts his wheel against the other's rear wheel when there's plenty of space.

Not going to lecture anyone regarding one driver or the other but if you look up previous race crashes with Verstappen behind the wheel you soon reach the point where "Oh he's still young and inexperienced" start sounding lame.

But you forget a mayor difference, FIA punishes Verstappen for those crashes regardless him being young and inexperienced and rightfully so.

[Buddahaid]

"The stewards’ verdict deemed that Hamilton had been ‘predominantly’, rather than ‘wholly’, at fault in the incident."

“Similar to what happened with Charles [Leclerc] later on [when Hamilton passed the Monegasque for the lead at the same corner], he could have stayed tucked in closer to the apex, and that was where they found [the issue]. I think the wording was clear as per the regulations, he was ‘predominantly to blame’, not ‘wholly to blame’ for it."

FIA Race Director Michael Masi

Remember LeClerc had to run wide with Lewis pushing through the inside.

[Cyborg322]

It makes no sense it was deliberate. Hamiltons Mercedes probably had equal chance of coming off worse with car positioned slightly further behind and damaging the front wing with little or no damage to the Red Bull. His car was understeering when the contact occurred because he committed himself to get past and was going too fast to do anything about it. This is more to do with his choice of making the attempt to pass on this high speed bend in the first instance. Verstappens driving style where he changes direction under hard braking almost invites this but is not against the rules. A few years back Mercedes where going to make an official complaint about this but backed out. In this instance that may not of been the case but its a consideration

Hamilton should of held back it was a poor decision which could of potentially been much worse for Verstapppen. I'm just glad his was not seriously hurt and that modern F1 cars have such good protection against high impact collisions

After the race he should of just returned to the grid without the flag waving. In my opinion this was not pertinent at the time. He should have also consulted with his team before making any comments.

I respect both drivers equally this is not a case bias they both make F1 more exciting to watch. Mercedes dominance for many years made F1 far too predictable. When you have drivers so equally committed to winning the odds of collisions is greatly increased.