Lewis Hamilton "a little bit bruised and hurting" but "doing well"

Lewis Hamilton after his crash at Monza — Photo: © LAT Images

Mercedes

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Hamilton "a little bit bruised and hurting" but "doing well"

Ian Parkes

Wednesday 15 September 2021 18:47

Mercedes has declared Lewis Hamilton to be "a little bit bruised and hurting" but otherwise "doing well" following his Italian Grand Prix shunt with Max Verstappen.

The well-documented incident at Monza saw Hamilton hit by F1 championship rival Max Verstappen midway through the race, sustaining a sore neck after the Red Bull landed on top of the Mercedes, hitting the Briton on the helmet.

Providing an update on Hamilton's condition, trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin said: "I am pleased to say he is doing well.

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"He has a sore neck - you will have seen in the photographs just how far he got pushed forward during the incident - but he has got a bit of time to recover.

"He has got Angela [Cullen] with him, his physio, she will be looking after him as she does, so we are hoping we will see him in Russia fighting fit.”

Motorsport strategy director James Vowles hailed the safety devices, notably the halo, that played their part in saving Hamilton's life.

"I'll just add that really this is a testament to all the safety that has been put in place in Formula 1 across the last few years," said Vowles.

"The halo truly saved his life in this instance, the helmet took the impact and took it well without damaging him and again the HANS device acted as it should do.

"Those three devices all working together to ensure Lewis is, as Shov said, a little bit bruised and hurting but okay.”

Mercedes deliver assessment on Hamilton's damaged car

A 360-degree camera view of the accident shows the violent impact on Hamilton's car as Verstappen's RB16B was launched into the air and scraped over the top of the W12.

Providing an appraisal of the damage sustained, Shovlin said: "Well, we had a bit of time with the car before leaving the circuit to make a quick assessment.

"The rear wing is quite badly damaged - you will have seen how far that got bent over during the crash.

"There is a bit of superficial damage around the wings and floor, but most of the impact was taken by the roll hoop area and the halo itself. That came off quite badly.

"The quick look at the PU is that looks okay, and the gearbox, we will have a bit more of a look into that, but as I said most of it was limited to the halo and the roll hoop area."