Hamilton opens up on EXPLOSIVE F1 crash which ignited Verstappen RIVALRY

The incident at the British Grand Prix was huge in the 2021 title race and in setting the narrative between both drivers

Chris Deeley

Wednesday 12 July 2023 05:27

Lewis Hamilton has opened up on the explosive lap one crash with Max Verstappen at the 2021 British Grand Prix which sent their incipient rivalry into overdrive.

The pair were exchanging the lead in a frantic tussle throughout the first half of the opening lap at Silverstone before Hamilton hit the Dutchman going through Copse corner, resulting in his Red Bull hurtling into the barriers at 180mph.

Hamilton was given a 10-second penalty for the incident, which resulted in a red flagged race and a trip to hospital for Verstappen, but fought back through the pack to claim the victory over Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

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Speaking ahead of this weekend's race at Silverstone, two years on, Hamilton revealed that he decided the day before the race that he needed to do something to get ahead of his rival early.

Hamilton: I knew I had to get ahead somehow

“[I] lost on the start with a bit of wheelspin to Max in the sprint race and ended up not being able to get close enough," he explained. "I knew that the next day I had to be ahead, I had to get ahead somehow.

“I think I got a better start and he still held on to it on the outside through turn one. We were dicing through three, four all the way down into five where I think he ran me a little bit wide. Came back on him [and] got the exit off seven. We collided. That’s what happens in racing sometimes. It’s what motorsport sometimes entails."

Verstappen ended up winning that season's title in incredibly controversial circumstances on the last lap of the final race of the season, but at the time the Silverstone incident – which resulted in a 25-point swing – seemed massive for the fate of the championship.

“I had a ten second penalty, so I was like ‘head down, focus, try to recover that’," Hamilton continues. "Which I did, which I thought was quite a feat. You’re not thinking about what happened earlier on in the race.

"All you’re thinking of is being in the moment and sharing that with the fans always, in spite of the guy that I was competing with crashed. It was literally just spur of the moment, just sheer excitement, we won the grand prix, after colliding, after losing the position the day before. That’s that."