Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen engaged in a fierce battle at the British GP, as the two drivers crashed during the opening lap of the race. Verstappen went sliding into the gravel, which ended his race, whereas, Hamilton went on to clinch the victory.
Christian Horner, Red Bull team principal blamed Lewis Hamilton for his reckless amount, and believes that a 10 second time penalty was the the right decision.
Martin Brundle believes that Red Bull consider Hamilton’s incident with Verstappen as a professional foul, given that the championship battle is so tight at the moment.
“I can see Red Bull’s point of view. They’re looking at it through the filter of a bruised superstar in the wall at 51G, a wrecked car in these cost-capped times that will take a big chunk out of their spending power,” said Brundle.
“They will probably take engine penalties down the road somewhere because surely bits and pieces on the motor were smashed up as well, where they might take some grid penalties, and both of their World Championship leads, Drivers’ and Constructors’, eroded all in three or four seconds,” he added.
Lewis just decided he was going to stop yielding to Max’s aggression: Martin Brundle
Martin Brundle stated that Max Verstappen has been aggressive several times this season, and Lewis Hamilton has often yielded to it. However, this time, Hamilton decided against compromising his own race, and held his position.
Brundle believes that it is easy to say that it was not Max Verstappen’s fault, given that Lewis Hamilton has backed out of quite a few incidents in the pasr.
“It certainly wasn’t Max Verstappen’s fault, I think that’s easy to say. I think Max made a couple of decisions – one conscious, one sub-conscious – in that he had closed Hamilton off, right up against the pit wall. I think he thought Lewis would back out of that,” said Brundle.
“Lewis has backed out of quite a lot of things this year so far and I think Max thought he would do exactly the same again. Lewis didn’t back off and I think Lewis had made the decision that he’s done that too much this year,” he added.
