Sunday 12th September 2021
Red Bull flies over Mercedes
Hamilton and Verstappen crash in Monza
It’s been quiet for a long time at the Formula 1 race in Monza. Then Verstappen screwed up a box stop, triggering a dynamic that led to the crash of the two big rivals a little later. Both get stranded in the gravel and drop out. That is good for Verstappen, not so much for Hamilton.
World Cup rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton were eliminated from the Italian Grand Prix after a collision. At the beginning of the 26th lap, the opponents drove side by side into the first chicane, on contact Verstappen’s Red Bull was catapulted over Hamilton’s Mercedes, both of them stranded in the gravel. The safety car deployed.
Formula 1 record world champion Hamilton (England), who is five points behind the Dutchman Verstappen in the world championship fight, had just returned from the pit lane to the Monza track. Verstappen’s Red Bull crew had badly messed up when changing their own tires shortly before and lost about nine seconds.
Verstappen was the first of the two opponents to get out of his car and pull away. Hamilton, who was also protected by his “Halo” cockpit protection, stayed longer in the car and tried again to move the car out of the gravel bed. “Engine off, please, Lewis,” his team radioed. Hamilton apparently got away with the horror. Verstappen was not aware of any guilt.
“That’s what happens when you don’t leave any space,” he conveyed to the box. Both drivers were invited to the race stewards. They examine the incident after the race, which surprisingly led the Australian Daniel Ricciardo (McLaren). The German drivers Mick Schumacher and Sebastian Vettel did not play a major role in the race at the time.
Hamilton and Verstappen had already collided at the British Grand Prix in Silverstone in mid-July. While Verstappen dropped out and had to go to the hospital for a check-up, Hamilton won his home Grand Prix.
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