Lewis Hamilton offers fresh perspective on THAT Silverstone collision with Max Verstappen

Lewis Hamilton has given his side of the story two years on from his infamous collision with Max Verstappen at Copse at the 2021 British Grand Prix.

It was one of the seminal moments in that season’s titanic World Championship battle between the duo, with the pair coming to blows at one of the fastest corners of Silverstone as Hamilton tried to make a move for the lead on the opening lap of the race.

It caused consternation throughout the paddock, so much so that Red Bull sent then-reserve driver Alex Albon onto the circuit in the following days to try and recreate Hamilton’s line as evidence of him colliding with his title rival on purpose.

Lewis Hamilton shares his feelings on 2021 Copse crash

Verstappen hit the wall with an enormous impact but was able to climb out of his car without major injuries, though Hamilton was hit with a 10-second penalty for causing a collision.

The Mercedes driver fought back through the pack to win the race, but such was the tension in the title fight and having been jumped by Verstappen in the sprint the day before, Hamilton admitted just how much he had wanted to get back ahead of his rival.

“I think people have, maybe not now, but in the past underestimated just how good a job Red Bull have done for many years with their car,” Hamilton explained in an interview withSky Sports F1.

“Lost on the start [with] a little bit of wheelspin out to Max in the sprint race and ended up not being able to get close enough.

“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 onto it on the outside through Turn 1. We were dicing through [Turns] 3, 4, all the way down into 5, where you think he’d run me a little bit wide, came back on him, got the exit of 7…

“We collided. That’s what happens in races sometimes, that’s what motorsport sometimes entails.

“I had a 10-second penalty. So it was like, ‘head down, focus, try to recover that’, which I did, which I thought was quite a feat.”

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Hamilton’s celebrations after the race, in which he climbed out of his car waving a Union Flag and celebrating with his home fans were viewed by some in the Red Bull camp as a mark of disrespect against Verstappen at the time, given the state of the title fight and the high-speed nature of his crash.

The seven-time World Champion was quick to dismiss this idea however, explaining that he simply did what he wanted to do in the moments after winning his eighth British Grand Prix.

“You’re not thinking about what happened earlier on in the race,” he stated, “you’re thinking of being in the moment and sharing that with the fans.

“It wasn’t in spite of the guy that I was competing with who crashed, it was just literally just spur of the moment, like sheer excitement.

“We won the Grand Prix after colliding after losing the position the day before. So that’s that.”

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