Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s titanic bout in 2021 is all historic – but one moment at the British Grand Prix defined the rivalry.
Formula 1’s greatest championship title fight was sadly marred by controversy at the Abu Dhabi finale, but that shouldn’t take away from a frankly astonishing season.
Hamilton and Verstappen came together an unprecedented number of times for two title challengers and were inseparable as they went into the decider level on points.
That’s only happened once before in F1, in 1974 between Emerson Fittipaldi and Clay Regazzoni, but never have two rivals gone wheel-to-wheel so much in a single season.
The pair made contact in Imola and Spain, Verstappen ended up on top of Hamilton at Monza, brake-checked him in Saudi Arabia, and both nearly ended up in the wall in Brazil.
However, one moment defined their rivalry like no other, when a full-speed crash at Silverstone sent the Dutchman to hospital.
We had a sense of what was to come a day earlier in Saturday’s sprint race when Verstappen chopped Hamilton’s nose off at Copse to deny the Mercedes driver a pass, but in Sunday’s feature race, the Brit wasn’t having any of it.
In an F1 tale as old as time, the older driver decided to let the youngster know you can’t block your opponent off by any means possible, having allowed Verstappen to do so in Imola and Spain but certainly not on his home turf.
So when they hit Copse for the second time that weekend after an incredible first lap sparring session, Hamilton refused to back out – and disaster struck.
Verstappen was sent flying into the wall at literal break-neck speeds of at least 180mph, registering an astonishing g-force of 51Gs, the equivalent of 306kg on his head and neck.
On-board footage from Verstappen, Hamilton and Charles Leclerc showed the astonishing crash, with the Red Bull driver’s wheel ripped off as he flew into the barrier like a rocket.
Later, after the close of the season, Netflix’s Drive to Survive caught the sound of a groggy and concussed Verstappen over team radio.
The sports docuseries also picked up a Mercedes team member saying: “It is exactly the right lesson for Max to learn, otherwise everyone always backs out for him.”
Hamilton went on to recover from the contact but was slapped with a 10-second time penalty for being ‘predominantly’ – according to the stewards – to blame for the collision.
After serving it, Hamilton fought back to overtake Leclerc for one of his most famous home victories.
Speaking afterwards, the seven-time world champion said: “It’s massively overwhelming and my god it was such a physically difficult race.
“I’ve been giving my all this past week, been in the factory, just giving it absolutely everything trying to uncover performance with the guys and I’m so proud of everyone for just continuing the work even though we’ve had a bit of a deficit.
“I always try to be measured in how I approach battling with Max, he’s very aggressive. And then today, I mean, I was fully alongside him and he didn’t leave me enough space.
“But regardless of whether I agree with the penalty, I took it on the chin and I kept working, I was like, ‘I’m not going to let anything get in the way of the crowd’s enjoyment of the weekend and the national anthem and the British flag’.”
Red Bull principal Christian Horner did not hold back in his criticism of Hamilton as his lead driver Verstappen was taken to hospital.
Speaking to Formula1.com he said: “For me, it’s very clear: Lewis has stuck a wheel up the inside of one of the fastest corners on this world championship. He’s driven this circuit for years; you know you don’t do that here. The result – thank God we haven’t had a driver that’s been seriously injured or worse today.”
Speaking to Channel 4 he added: “I think it was a desperate move. He failed to make the move in the first part of the lap, which he was obviously geared to do, and then it was just a desperate move sticking a wheel up the inside which you just don’t do.
“Copse is one of the fastest corners in the world. You don’t stick a wheel up the inside. That’s just dirty driving.”
Verstappen himself later issued an update to his fans on his thoughts during a rare candid use of social media.
“Glad I’m ok,” he wrote. “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.”
Despite Verstappen’s call to move on, his Red Bull team unsuccessfully bid to have a review of the 10-second penalty.
After their attempt was officially rejected, Mercedes released a statement accusing Red Bull of trying to “tarnish the good name and sporting integrity of Lewis Hamilton.”
Tensions boiled over and contact between the two continued throughout the season, and even into the next campaign when the pair collided in Brazil despite being in vastly different machinery.
Verstappen gave far more space to title challenger Leclerc throughout the following 2022 season.
However, his collision with Lando Norris in Austria a week before his return to Silverstone suggests he’s still not entirely comfortable going head-to-head with a Brit…
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— Formula 1 (@F1) June 26, 2022Verstappen
There was plenty of drama on our last visit to Silverstone, including this on the opening lap#BritishGP#F1pic.twitter.com/pTKqSeYhtS
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