Lewis Hamilton Faces Criticism for Dangerous Collision at British Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton, Formula One world champion got into an early, dangerous high-speed collision with Max Verstappen on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix this weekend.

The collision resulted in Hamilton receiving a ten-second time penalty which dropped him down to fourth place after the pit stop. However, he was still able to overtake Ferrari's Charles Leclerc in the final two laps to secure his eighth British GP win, defending his title. At the onset of the race, the Mercedes driver made several attempts to pass Verstappen on the first lap. When the drivers reached Silverstone's Copse Corner, Hamilton's front left-wheel grazed the Red Bull driver's back-right tire, causing Verstappen to spin off the track and crashing into the barriers.

Though the car was completely wrecked, Verstappen was able to walk away from the accident. The Dutch racer was not pleased with Hamilton's tactics and later took to Twitter to post, "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 the track. Watching the celebrations while still in hospital is disrespectful and unsportsmanlike behavior but we move on."

After the race, Hamilton spoke to the press stating, "I was pretty far alongside him, but I could see he wasn't going to back out. But then we went into the corner and we collided. Of course, that's never the way I want to win a race or just in general to race, but these things do happen."

The British Grand Prix judges announced that Hamilton was "predominantly at fault since Hamilton went on the corner "slightly behind and on the inside." They also said that he was "on a line that did not reach the apex of the corner, with room available to the inside."

Check out the Twitter exchange below.

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 behavior but we move on pic.twitter.com/iCrgyYWYkm

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 18, 2021

Today is a reminder of the dangers in this sport. I send my best wishes to Max who is an incredible competitor. I’m glad to hear he is ok. I will always race hard but always fairly. My team showed grit and perseverance out there. It’s a dream to win in front of my home crowd??? pic.twitter.com/3S16uFYmDZ

— Lewis Hamilton (@LewisHamilton) July 18, 2021