Just when Motorsports fans had started to believe that Max was going to dominate the championship from Austria onwards, the season spiraled into a frenzy. Whenever asked questions about what Mercedes were going to do about the 32 point lead that Red Bull had against them, they kept insisting that they would just patiently manage the gap and would suggest that they were just one DNF away from their rivals. Not only did Max crash but even Red Bull’s second driver Perez was out of the points because he started his race from the pitlane due to his unfortunate sprint qualifying.
Spectators were left speechless after the first race incident between championship contenders Hamilton and Verstappen. Everyone was expecting a flat out race between the two but no one could have anticipated the crash that the Red Bull driver suffered. As soon as the lights went out, their gloves came off and while usually in the past races of this season Lewis and Max would have a brief fight for positions at the start, one of them would usually take the lead and run with it, this time however the defending champion did not concede. Hamilton’s front left tyre entangled with Max’s rear right and the latter ended up spinning followed by reverse speeding off the track and ending up crashing straight into the barriers at an impact of about 51 Gs.
While the Red Bull driver limped out of his battered car, Hamilton walked away with a 10 second penalty and took a victory at his home Grand Prix for the 8th time. There was ofcourse a lot of chatter in the paddock following the incident, many along with team principal Christian Horner suggesting Lewis deserved a race ban while others just called it a racing incident. Horner called out the 7-time World Champion later in an interview and said it was a ‘desperate error’ from the driver and it was ‘unacceptable.’ He (Horner) was even heard saying that it was a ‘Professional foul’ suggesting Lewis deliberately took out his opponent.
In the Formula One post-race interview, Red Bull substitute driver Alex Albon and journalist Will Buxton discussed the crash at length and compared it to earlier overtakes on the same corner. Although two drivers on track are battling, they try to give each other the space to pass and both drivers are very competent, in this instance many variables came into play such as the speed they were going or the heat of the moment or even just a misjudgement from both drivers. Lewis had witnessed on Saturday in the Sprint qualifying just how fast Max had pulled away from him when he didn’t challenge him. Max has always been a driver to never back down from a fight on track and it was becoming a pattern in the races. with the pressure of piling points and fewer races left on the calendar, Lewis decided this time that he wouldn’t give in and both drivers tried to squeeze each other into backing off, leading to them touching with Max being the unlucky one.
Max later stirred the pot further, by tweeting from the hospital saying that he was glad that he came out unharmed other than minor injuries, but he felt that Hamilton’s celebration was ‘disrespectful and unsportsmanlike.’ I think it’s safe to say we are going to have a very interesting Hungarian Grand Prix and there will only be elbows out racing.
Charles Leclec gave an outstanding performance. He overtook Bottas at the race start and then went on to overtake Lewis after his crash with Versatappen. The Ferrari driver then led every lap except the last three when the Mercedes driver caught up to him and passed him to take the victory. Leclerc came very close to take the win which would have been extra special because Ferrari were commemorating 70 years since their first win at Silverstone. He came in second despite having a couple of engine power cuts during the race.
Also read: A Grand-Slam weekend for Verstappen
Lando Norris also came very close to winning his first race in Formula 1. At one point, he was third on track with only Charles and Lewis in front of him and the latter was yet to serve his 10 second penalty. The Mclaren driver ran a spectacular race but unfortunately suffered because of a slow pit stop and ended up losing two positions more than intended. However, he now stands third in the Driver’s Championship Standings owing to Perez’s poor performance.
Sergio Perez had his worst race this season at Silverstone. His spin in Sprint qualifying caused the team to retire his car and he had to start his race from the pit lane. He was on a two stop strategy and didn't end up in a points position so he pitted a third time to take away the fastest lap point from Hamilton. Overall, a very disappointing race for Red Bull, neither of their drivers scored any points other than the 3 that Verstappen scored for his Pole position finish on Friday. The only other driver to not cross the finishing line other than Max was Aston Martin driver Sebastian Vettel.
The gap between the two Championship rivals is now down to 4 points. The season has spiced up again and the sprint qualifying successfully shuffled the grid. The Championship between the two drivers has intensified more than ever and I would even go as far as to say things have gotten personal. Red Bull is sick of the 7 time World champions trying to play underdogs and Mercedes is done with their rival having the upper hand and only the next race can tell us who comes out on top.
