Christian Horner: That’s dirty driving

A screengrab of the moment when Lewis Hamilton (right) collided with Max Verstappen at Silverstone on Sunday. Pic/F1

Lewis Hamilton was accused of being dangerous and disrespectful in reviving his Formula One title defence by winning the British Grand Prix on Sunday after a first lap crash that left championship leader Max Verstappen complaining he had been taken out.

Hamilton retorted after the race that he would not be bullied. Roared on by a crowd of more than 140,000, Hamilton attempted to overtake Verstappen on Copse corner on the first lap. Verstappen refused to yield. The two touched wheels and the Red Bull went careening off the track and into the barrier. Hamilton drove on with just a broken wheel rim.

Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton; (right) Red Bull's Max Verstappen. Pics/Getty Images

"Glad I'm ok," tweeted Verstappen from hospital. "Very disappointed with being taken out like this." Stewards imposed a 10 second-penalty, the second lightest punishment available to them, on Hamilton. "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," added Verstappen.

His boss Christian Horner, the Red Bull team principal, had already laid into Hamilton who won his home race for the eighth time. "I hope Lewis is very happy with himself," said Horner. "That's a hollow victory. Copse is one of the fastest corners in the world. You don't stick a wheel up the inside. That's just dirty driving."
Hamilton said after the race that he had felt a lot of anger after the shunt and blamed Verstappen. "I don't feel he needs to be aggressive as he is," he said. "I would never back down from anyone. I will not be bullied into being less aggressive. We needed the points. He left a gap and I went for it."

Christian Horner

Horner focused his frustration on Hamilton. "I don't care what Lewis said. That's a hollow victory. It shouldn't be like that. Max has incurred a 51g accident. Lewis is a seven-time world champion. He shouldn't be making manoeuvres like that, It's unacceptable," Horner said. "It was dangerous, it looked desperate, he's put a competitor in hospital. The biggest result for us was that he was uninjured. I hope Lewis is very happy with himself."

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