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Hill on crash: "Combination of factors made Hamilton desperate"

27 July 2021 at 13:56
Last update 28 July 2021 at 11:15
  • GPblog.com

Ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix, the high-profile race that took place at Silverstone is often still a hot topic. Lewis Hamilton tapped Max Verstappen, who started from pole, into the tyre wall at Copse Corner, was given a 10-second penalty, took advantage of a red flag, drove back into the lead at the expense of Charles Leclerc and then celebrated another victory at Silverstone.

Breathtaking opening lap

In the F1 Nation Podcast Damon Hill looks back on the race in England and also on the incident once again. "I think they need to cool it down a bit. I think they were both very aggressive in the race. And I think it was a result of the previous race. In other words, the sprint on Saturday gave Mercedes an indication, a prescience that if Max drove in front, they wouldn't see him again."

The former world champion continues. "I think they knew they had to stay ahead of him. A combination of factors that made Lewis maybe a little more desperate and aggressive. And Max too. Because that first half lap was perhaps the most exciting and daring and also slightly risky opening lap I've seen in a long time. It was breathtaking, on the edge. And everyone watching had their hearts in their throats. And they expected something to happen, and it did."

Serious injuries

"And you see the replays, and you see on images on social media, people in the crowd have images of Max coming at them in the stands, and that car was really fast. Max got a huge hit. It was all a bit risky, and I think in many ways we were lucky that nobody really suffered any serious injuries," the Briton concluded his account.