July 2021

Helmut Marko has suggested Red Bull Racing have hired a lawyer to investigate the punishment of Lewis Hamilton. Helmut Marko told Austria’s Kronen Zeitung. Marko is still angry after the incident. Red Bull Racing and Max Verstappen were in such good shape prior to the British Grand Prix. In both championships they had a large margin, but with the retirement of Verstappen that lead has disappeared completely. Red Bull is now investigating whether a heavier penalty can still be imposed on Hamilton, with the help of a lawyer. ”He [the lawyer] has to investigate what we can do in such a situation within the frameworks of sports law,” the Austrian argues. ”It was fortunate that nothing serious happened to Max. The car, and possibly the engine, are broken. You can’t let that happen. A suspension (for Hamilton) would be justified.” The ten second penalty did not go down well with Marko. “That’s ridiculous, but maybe it’s the fault of the regulations. The regulations need to be reviewed, as well as the stewards’ system. Perez gets two five-second penalties for marginal contact where no one flies off. You could have given a ten-second penalty plus drive-through for Hamilton, but they didn’t.” ”Max was on the racing line where Hamilton was, so he has to get off the gas. You can’t drive into your opponent’s rear wheel in one of the fastest corners. The slightest touch has fatal consequences. It’s an irresponsible action. Hamilton should know what the consequences are”, concludes an angry Marko.

Mercedes boss Toto Wolff has hit back at Red Bull’s “dirty driving” accusation aimed at Lewis Hamilton following his collision with Formula 1 title rival Max Verstappen at the British Grand Prix. F1 2021’s leading protagonists clashed at the high-speed Copse corner as Hamilton attempted to snatch the lead away from Verstappen on the opening lap of Sunday’s race at Silverstone. Hamilton received a 10-second time penalty for the coming together which left Verstappen requiring a trip to hospital following a 51G impact with the barriers. Speaking to Channel 4 from the pit wall directly after the incident, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner labelled Hamilton’s attempt to pass Verstappen as “desperate” and “dirty driving”. “He failed to make the move in the first part of the lap, and then it was just a desperate move sticking a wheel up the inside which you just don’t do,” Horner said. “Copse is one of the fastest corners in the world, you don’t stick a wheel up the inside. That’s just dirty driving.” Speaking to media after the race, Wolff rejected Horner’s claim, insisting that the relatively few incidents Hamilton has been involved in throughout his career shows he is the opposite of a dirty driver. “I mean everybody has an opinion, and that’s okay,” Wolff said of Horner’s comment. “Of course, every team will have a certain bias towards incidents like that. “When you hear the comments about his driving and the incident, Lewis is the contrary of someone that ever drives dirty,” he added. “I think he’s a sportsman. We have not seen any big incidents with him and that’s why he keeps his demeanour. You saw that the incident wasn’t particularly bothering him.” A furious Horner continued his criticism of Hamilton after the race. Asked if he felt Hamilton had risked a life, Horner replied: “Of course you’re putting your fellow competitors safety at jeopardy. “I think a move at that corner, every grand prix driver knows, is a massive massive risk. You don’t stick a wheel up the inside there without there being huge consequence. “We’re lucky today, after a 51G accident, that there wasn’t someone seriously hurt, and that’s what I’m most angry about is just the lack of judgement and desperation in this move, that thankfully we got away with today. “But had that been an awful lot worse, a 10-second penalty would have looked pretty menial.”

Max Verstappen and his engine survived his 51G crash at the British GP, but the damage to his RB16B will set Red Bull back “three quarters of a million euros”. That’s the estimate from Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko. Verstappen was involved in a high-speed crash at Sunday’s British Grand Prix, hit by Lewis Hamilton as the Mercedes driver tried to take the lead off him into Copse. The Red Bull driver went screaming through the gravel trap, hitting the tyre barrier at 150mph with the impact said to be 51G. He thankfully walked away with nothing more severe than bruises and a sore neck while Honda believe his engine can be salvaged. What won’t buff out, though, is the car. His RB16B was wrecked with Marko estimating the damage to be around 750,000 Euros. “As things stand,” he told RTL, “it is about three quarters of a million euros, although the engine situation is not quite clear yet.” That’s 750,000 Euros that Red Bull will have spend building him a new car, money that the team would have rather sunk into developing this year’s car or designing next year’s all-new Red Bull. Marko added: “Especially in times of the cost cap, it is a significant amount and hurts us.” And that’s not taking into account the financial loss the team could face if his Silverstone DNF is the difference in their battle with Mercedes for the championship titles. The good news, though, is Verstappen is “okay”, suffering with “only a bit of neck pain”. Marko says he will be back in the car come next weekend’s Hungarian GP, just not that car. “Unfortunately not in that car anymore since it’s completely damaged,” he said. “But you will see a very motivated Max in Hungary.” Having arrived at the British Grand Prix with a 32-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship, Verstappen is now just eight points ahead of Hamilton.

Although he believes it was a racing incident, Bernie Ecclestone says the stewards were lenient in handing Lewis Hamilton a 10s time penalty. Over the many years he has been involved in the sport, Bernie Ecclestone has witnessed more than his fair share of controversy. However, while fans of a certain vintage will recall incidents far more controversial – and ultimately tragic – than Sunday’s first lap clash, 24-hour rolling news and social media tend to shine the spotlight of attention far more intensely these days. Asked about Sunday’s clash, former F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone believes it was a racing incident. However, in deciding to investigate and apportion blame he believes the stewards should have punished Lewis Hamilton harder than a 10s time penalty. “In the old days we would have said it was one of those things, a racing incident,” he tells the Daily Mail. “It was clear that both were doing their best to win the championship. “If you have to give a sanction, which in some ways they didn’t need to, this was not the right decision,” he adds, “it wasn’t enough. “If the stewards needed to get involved then they should have given Lewis more than a 10-second penalty… it should have been 30 seconds. “Lewis was not in front at the point they collided. It wasn’t his corner,” he insists. “He was almost a car’s length behind. That’s why he hit him at the back not the front. “Ten seconds was not right. The punishment did not fit the crime.”

Mercedes, Formula One and its governing body the FIA have issued a joint statement condemning the online racist abuse aimed at Lewis Hamilton. Hamilton, 36, was targeted following his crash with rival Max Verstappen on the opening lap of Sunday’s British Grand Prix. The seven-time world champion delivered a superb comeback drive to record his eighth win on home soil, while Verstappen was taken to hospital following the 190mph shunt which registered at 51G. Red Bull said he was released from hospital at 10pm on Sunday night “without major injuries”. The statement read: “During, and after, yesterday’s British Grand Prix, Lewis Hamilton was subjected to multiple instances of racist abuse on social media following an in-race collision. “Formula One, The FIA and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team condemn this behaviour in the strongest possible terms. “These people have no place in our sport and we urge that those responsible should be held accountable for their actions. “Formula One, the FIA, the drivers and the teams are working to build a more diverse and inclusive sport, and such unacceptable instances of online abuse must be highlighted and eliminated.” Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff said: “We have seen it in the football at the European Championship and the abuse is absolutely not acceptable, and it is the same yesterday. “I still question whether some just don’t get it. This is not acceptable and we will react to it.” Hamilton was handed a 10-second penalty for the accident with Verstappen after the stewards adjudged him to be “predominantly at fault”. The abuse came from a number of countries and started during Sunday’s race in response to posts from both F1 and Mercedes’ social media platforms. It is understood that F1 is compiling a dossier of the offensive posts and will raise them directly with the platforms and call on them to take stringent action. Verstappen’s Red Bull team also issued a statement criticising the attacks on Hamilton. “While we may be fierce rivals on-track, we are all united against racism,” the team said. “We condemn racist abuse of any kind towards our teams, our competitors and our fans. “As a team we are disgusted and saddened to witness the racist abuse Lewis endured yesterday on social media after the collision with Max. “There is never any excuse for it. There is certainly no place for it in our sport and those responsible should be held accountable.”

FIA race director Michael Masi has explained why the stewards decided to punish Lewis Hamilton for his part in the dramatic British Grand Prix clash with Max Verstappen. Hamilton hounded F1 title rival Verstappen during the opening lap of the race and looked to make a move at Copse only for contact to spear the Red Bull into the barriers at high speed. The British driver was handed a 10-second penalty, a punishment Mercedes felt its driver did not deserve but one Red Bull believed should have been more severe. Asked what the stewards believed Hamilton should have done differently to avoid the incident, Masi replied: “I don’t know that they express a view of what he should have done but having looked at it all, their view was that he was predominantly to blame for that. “I haven’t had the opportunity, because I have been going through a whole load of other things to actually read the decision in full, but the big part was, similar to what happened with Charles [Leclerc] later on, he could have, say, tucked further to the apex. “That was where they found – the wording was quite clear as per the regulations – that he was predominantly to blame. “He wasn’t seen as wholly to blame for it but he was seen as predominantly to blame. He could have tucked in further and that could have changed the outcome but we don’t know, we judge it on the incident itself.” Whilst Verstappen’s race ended with the crash, Hamilton was able to mount a comeback to overhaul the deficit created by the penalty and move past Leclerc at the same corner on lap 50 of 52 to clinch victory. On the fairness of Hamilton being able to continue to victory with his rival in the barrier, Masi explained: “One of the big parts that has been a mainstay for many many years, and this came through discussions prior to my time between all of the teams, the FIA and F1, and the team principals were all quite adamant, you should not consider the consequences in an incident. “So when they are judging incidents, they judge the incident itself and the narrative of the incident and not what happens afterwards as a consequence. “That is something the stewards have done for many years and have been advised from the top down. “That’s the way the stewards judge it because if you start taking consequences into account there are so many variables instead of judging the incident itself on its merit.”

Toto Wolff says he will do what he can to enable Valtteri Bottas to have a “great future” in Formula 1. Amid sweeping rumours that the Finnish driver is set to lose his seat to George Russell for 2022, Mercedes boss Wolff hailed Bottas’ role in supporting Lewis Hamilton throughout the British GP weekend. “Valtteri was really fast today,” he told Ilta Sanomat newspaper, after Bottas first gave Hamilton a slipstream in qualifying and then obeyed team orders in the race. “Lewis came from behind with hard tyres and was just in a different class than everyone else. Valtteri was second fastest and helped Lewis,” Wolff admitted. “He’s a great team player with the right kind of personality,” he added. However, it is widely believed that Bottas, 31, is currently weighing up his options for 2022 – with Alfa Romeo or Williams looking to be his best ones. Previously, Wolff was personally involved in the management of Bottas’ career alongside Mika Hakkinen and Didier Coton. Today, Hakkinen and Coton are still handling the Finn. When asked if he will also do his best to help Bottas, Wolff answered: “If there is a situation where we want to give someone else a chance, it’s not just about my relationship with him. “I see it as my duty, because he deserves a great future,” he added. “He has been a teammate of the best Formula 1 driver in history, and it is not always easy to shine in those circumstances. But he has been fantastic.”

Red Bull may request the FIA to take further action against Lewis Hamilton for causing a collision with Max Verstappen in Formula 1’s British Grand Prix. F1 2021’s two title protagonists came to blows on the opening lap of the British GP at Silverstone as they battled hard for the lead. Hamilton attempted a dive down the inside of Verstappen into Copse but tagged the rear-end of his main rival’s car, sending him into a high-speed, 51G impact with the barriers. Hamilton was hit with a 10-second time penalty for the incident but still went on to claim an eighth British GP win to cut Verstappen’s championship lead down to eight points. Speaking to Sky Germany, Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko argued that Hamilton should face a ran ban for his part in the coming together. “You can’t do that with the normal sporting code,” Marko said. “I don’t know what the maximum penalty would be, but such dangerous and reckless behaviour should be punished with a suspension or something. “If a competitor massively touches our rear wheel with his front wheel, then that’s no longer a racing accident in the fastest corner of the course. That is negligent to dangerous behaviour.” Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said his side will consider its options before launching any kind of protest. “I think there are rights available to us but unfortunately the stewards are pretty set in their decision and it’d be meaningless to take things further, but we’ll look at it, talk it through shortly, and that would be my initial reaction,” he explained. Horner added: “Of course you’re putting your fellow competitors safety at jeopardy and I think a move at that corner, every grand prix driver knows, is a massive massive risk. “You don’t stick a wheel up the inside there without there being huge consequence. We’re lucky today, after a 51G accident, that there wasn’t someone seriously hurt. “What I’m most angry about is just the lack of judgement and desperation in this move, that thankfully we got away with today. But had that been an awful lot worse a 10-second penalty would have looked pretty menial.” Horner also confirmed Verstappen’s car was completely “written off” in the crash. “It is a very expensive accident, written off the car,” he said. “We still lead both world championships but with a much diminished lead. “It has been a very frustrating day after such a strong day yesterday and I think that probably added to Lewis’ desperation, having lost the sprint race, he was pretty wound up and probably why he made an ill-judged move.”

Max Verstappen has brandished F1 championship rival Lewis Hamilton as “dangerous” and labelled the British Grand Prix winner’s celebrations as “disrespectful and unsportsmanlike”. The Red Bull driver started from pole at Silverstone and was defending from a hard-charging Hamilton when the pair collided at Copse, sending Verstappen into the barriers with an impact of 51g. Whilst Hamilton overcame a 10-second penalty for the incident to take victory with a move on Charles Leclerc at the very same corner in the closing stages, Verstappen has been taken to hospital for precautionary checks after the violent incident. Writing on social media, Verstappen said: “Glad I’m ok. “Very disappointed with being taken out like this. The penalty given does not help us and doesn’t do justice to the dangerous move Lewis made on track. “Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behaviour but we move on.” Verstappen’s lead in the championship has been cut to just seven points.

Lewis Hamilton denied Charles Leclerc a sensational victory in Formula 1’s 2021 British Grand Prix, after Hamilton collided with Max Verstappen on the opening lap, putting the Red Bull out. Hamilton was penalised for the controversial incident at Copse, just after which Leclerc had surged into the lead before the race was suspended. Leclerc led the majority of the restarted race, including while managing an intermittent engine problem, but was unable to resist Hamilton’s late charge back to the front following his lengthy pitstop, where he had served his penalty. Unlike in the sprint race, Hamilton made the better getaway at the first start and was alongside polesitter Verstappen as they raced into Abbey, with the Red Bull hanging on around the outside– nearly going into the runoff area – to lead at the race’s first braking point – Village. The battle continued, the pair running so closely side-by-side they appeared to touch, down the Wellington straight, at the end of which Hamilton surged ahead on the outside line, with Verstappen then skating over the inside kerbs and to stay ahead, even though it took him wide on the exit. Verstappen’s tighter entry through Luffield meant Hamilton was able to surge into his slipstream on the national pit straight, diving to the inside and very close to the barriers after Verstappen had moved to cover the inside line for Copse. There, with Hamilton a long way alongside, the pair collided as they ran through the rapid right-hander, with Hamilton’s left-front clipping Verstappen’s right-rear and popping it off the car, which was spun around at high-speed and sent into the barriers in the outside. Verstappen hit the tyre wall side on, where he gingerly climbed from the wreckage after the race had been red flagged, from an initial safety car intervention. The Red Bull driver was later taken to a nearby hospital “for further precautionary checks”, per an FIA spokesperson. Leclerc led at this point after the Ferrari had surged past Hamilton, who had lost speed in the clash with the Red Bull, exiting Copse. The race was suspended for nearly half an hour, during which Red Bull and Mercedes presented their opposing viewpoints to race director Michael Masi, as the stewards investigated the incident. At the standing restart on the race’s third lap of 52, Leclerc stayed ahead of Hamilton off the line, while Lando Norris passed Bottas identical fashion to Leclerc at the initial start to run third ahead of the second Mercedes. Leclerc surged to a 1.2-second lead at the end of the first lap and he kept Hamilton – who had been told to push after being handed a 10s time addition for the incident with Verstappen – at arm’s length for the next phase of the race – where they traded fastest laps in the high 1m32s. Ferrari informed Leclerc that it was switching him to “Plan B” – a one-stopper with an elongated first stint – as Hamilton struggled to make progress following in the dirty air. But the world champion was able to close in and run in DRS range approaching lap 20 after Leclerc suffered a series of engine power “cuts”, with Ferrari hurriedly having to tell him to alter the power unit’s settings. The issue appeared to be rectified (although Leclerc reported the issue on an additional occasion before being told to avoiding upshifting if the cut occurred again) and so the Ferrari driver was able to pull out his advantage again as Hamilton reported blistering on both his front tyres, after he had pushed to try and take advantage of Leclerc’s power problem. Leclerc’s pace was so strong that Ferrari kept him out until lap 29, two laps after Hamilton had stopped to switch his medium tyres for hards – and one lap after Carlos Sainz had lost over 10s with a slow left-front change. But Leclerc had no such problem and started his stint on the hards with a lead of 7.7s over Bottas, which he quickly set about extending. Hamilton ran behind Norris after his long stop, the McLaren having fallen behind Bottas as a result of his own pitstop delay as a result of a slow right-rear change that cost him around four second. The Mercedes driver quickly closed in on Norris and passed him on the run to the inside of Copse on lap 31, at the end of which Leclerc led Bottas by nearly 10s and was 13.5s in front of Hamilton. Over the next 10 laps, as Leclerc managed his pace in the mid 1m31s up front, Hamilton charged up to his teammate with a series of laps in the mid-high 1m29s, with Mercedes ordering Bottas not to hold the world champion up and then let him by at Stowe on lap 40. That left Leclerc with 7.6s lead to defend over the final 12 laps, with Ferrari ordering him to “full push to the end”, as Hamilton continued to eat into his advantage. The Mercedes driver regularly took up to a second a lap from Leclerc, reaching DRS range with just over three laps remaining, where Leclerc was struggling with lapped traffic. On lap 50, Hamilton once again looked to the inside at Copse, with Leclerc desperately trying to hang on around the outside. But the Ferrari driver had to catch a snap of oversteer and went wide over the exit kerbs and ran off, rejoining just behind Hamilton, who surged clear to victory by 3.8s. Bottas finished 11.1s off the lead in third, with Norris fourth ahead of Daniel Ricciardo, who defied Sainz to the finish. Fernando Alonso was another driver who suffered a slow pitstop, before which he had briefly battled Bottas when the Mercedes came out of the pits from its only stop, and he eventually came home seventh after passing Lance Stroll following the slow service. Stroll took eighth ahead of Esteban Ocon in the second Alpine, with Yuki Tsunoda claiming the final point in 10th. Pierre Gasly had…