Wolff: Not a lot of remorse over Max’s Brit GP crash

Michelle Foster
Max Verstappen racing Lewis Hamilton. Mexico November 2021

Start of the race: VERSTAPPEN Max (ned), Red Bull Racing Honda RB16B, HAMILTON Lewis (gbr), Mercedes AMG F1 GP W12 E Performance. Mexico November 2021

Toto Wolff says there “wasn’t a lot of feeling of remorse” over Max Verstappen’s 51G crash at the British Grand Prix, a crash caused by Lewis Hamilton.

Engaged in a fierce battle for last year’s Drivers’ Championship title, Hamilton and Verstappen were involved in two big crashes, the first of which was at the British Grand Prix.

Losing the Saturday sprint qualifying, Hamilton lined up on the grid at his home race trailing Verstappen by 33 points in the standings.

It was a must-win for Hamilton.

Verstappen led off the line before Hamilton attacked him into the high-speed Copse corner only to make contact with Verstappen’s rear wheel.

That went the Red Bull driver flying off the circuit before slamming into the tyre barrier with an impact of 51G.

As to be expected that did not go down well with Red Bull, tempers boiling over as Verstappen was taken to hospital for further checks while Hamilton and Mercedes celebrated the Briton’s victory.

But Wolff says he has no remorse over that.

“There wasn’t a lot of feeling of remorse on our side,” Express reports him as having said in Sky Sports F1’s 2021 documentary ‘Duel’.

“Lewis has given up corners much more often before where he shouldn’t have.

“If you’re sitting in the hospital shaken by a big impact, you’re not going to understand that the other team is cheering for their driver.

“But it was his home race, a massive swing to our advantage in terms of points, and we knew that Max was okay.”

That incident not only soured the relationship between Hamilton and Verstappen but also the drivers and their opposition team bosses.

Verstappen called Hamilton disrespectful for the manner in which he celebrated the win while the Briton said his Red Bull rival was “too aggressive”.

 

The team bosses got involved, Horner slamming Hamilton for a “rookie” mistake with Mercedes accusing Red Bull of personal attacks.

It is safe to say that the Silverstone crash put an end to any suggestion of Verstappen one day moving to Mercedes, Jos Verstappen saying Wolff had shown his true colours and that their long-term friendship was over.

Verstappen went onto win the 2021 Drivers’ title and, two months later, signed a long-term extension with Red Bull.

 

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