F1 News

International press react: "His stubbornness resulted in a brutal accident"

19 July 2021 at 07:51
  • GPblog.com

The international press had its hands full with the British Grand Prix and of course, it was all about that dramatic first lap. Not every newspaper or website agrees.

Auto, Motor und Sport

The German website writes about a bizarre race in Britain. "After five Red Bull successes, the series broke. Lewis Hamilton finally managed to win again. After he lost the sprint 24 hours earlier, it didn't look like the 140,000 fans at the track Sunday had anything to cheer about. But Silverstone is always good for a crazy race. And this time the racing gods had written a very bizarre script."

Marca

According to the Spaniards, Hamilton's stubbornness was to blame for Max Verstappen's crash. "At Silverstone it was win or die for Lewis Hamilton, who drove Max Verstappen off the track on the first lap. A controversial action that will be repeated and reviewed a thousand times. The Englishman refused to take his foot off the gas in front of his home crowd at Copse and his stubbornness resulted in a brutal accident where the Dutchman crashed into the crash barriers after running wide."

La Gazzetta dello Sport

According to the Italians, it was an incident that was bound to happen at some point. The contact was inevitable. "Sooner or later it had to happen and it happened at Silverstone: an accident between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen! It happened on the first lap of the British GP, in Turn 9. Verstappen was in the lead after being allowed to start from pole after the sprint, while Hamilton furiously tried to overtake him in the slipstream."

"As he approached the Copse right-hander, Lewis took the inside and slammed on the brakes. The Dutchman's Red Bull closed the gap to the right. Contact between Hamilton's left front wheel and Verstappen's right rear tyre was inevitable."

Sky Sports

The British mainly speak of a great performance of Hamilton, who managed to win the race in Britain for the eighth time. "Lewis Hamilton took an extraordinary eighth British GP victory after overtaking long-time leader Charles Leclerc late on, as the Silverstone home favourite recovered from a time penalty for a huge first-lap crash with title rival Max Verstappen on a dramatic afternoon."

"Hamilton was found at fault for a collision with Verstappen into the high-speed Copse corner, which both ignited an F1 rivalry that has been intense all season and ended the Red Bull driver's race on Lap 1."

L'Equipe

The French newspaper had an extra pair of eyes on Charles Leclerc in particular, who scored his first podium of the season. "In front of his home crowd, British champion Lewis Hamilton proved unstoppable. He even collided hard with Max Verstappen on the first lap, before dropping Charles Leclerc at the end of the race. Here he is, an eight-time winner on home soil and back in contention for the championship."