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Updated September 13th, 2021 at 13:08 IST

Verstappen's Red Bull & Hamilton's Mercedes at loggerheads after Italian GP crash

Mercedes & Red Bull managers were at loggerheads after Lewis Hamilton & Max Verstappen's awkward crash in the recently-concluded Italian GP 2021 on Sunday

Reported by: Karthik Nair
lewis hamilton and max verstappen crash, Hamilton Verstappen crash
Image: AP | Image:self
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Italian GP 2021 witnessed one of the tensing moments in the history of Formula 1 as Red Bull driver Max Verstappen crashed with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton during race day on Sunday and luckily nothing untoward happened but more importantly, both drivers escaped unhurt. However, hours after the race, the Team Principal of Mercedes Toto Wolff and his Red Bull counterpart Christian Horner played the blame game as both of them reckoned that their rivals were at fault.

Mercedes Team Principal Toto Wolff termed the Italian GP crash as 'tactical foul' and at the same time, also blamed Max Verstappen for being careless as a result of which the Dutch GP 2021 winner has been handed a three-place grid penalty at the Russian Grand Prix that is scheduled to take place in two weeks time.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen crash: Team managers play the blame game

“I would say, in football you call it a tactical foul. [Max] probably knew that if Lewis stays ahead, that is the race win possibly", said Wolff as quoted by Formula 1 on their official website.

“It was clear to Max in there that it would end up in a crash and I think if we don’t manage this in the right way – and I’m sure the stewards will look at it in the right way – it’s going to continue. We’ve had a high-speed crash in Silverstone, we’ve had one car ending up on top of the other on Lewis’ head here" he added.

“How far can we go? Maybe next we have a high-speed crash and land on each other", Toto Wolff further added.

Meanwhile, Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner called out Wolff for terming Max Verstappen's act as 'professional foul'.

“I’m disappointed Toto would say it would be a professional foul. I think it’s a racing incident and thankfully no one was injured today". he said. 

“First of all, we shouldn’t have been in that position because we had a poor pit stop. But Max had the momentum, he had enough space around – I think Lewis gave him enough around the run in to Turn 1 and our opinion would be that Lewis perhaps closed him too much into Turn 2. You can see [Max has] got the momentum into Turn 1, Lewis gives him enough space there, Max alongside, and then obviously an incident", Horner explained.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen crash

Verstappen flipped up beside Hamilton as both the title rivals battled for the top position behind McLaren’s Lando Norris. As Hamilton made his way out of the pit box after a slow pit stop, he came into a wheel-to-wheel battle with Verstappen just before Turn 2 at Monza.

 As they approached the Rettifilo chicane, Verstappen was forced wide after finding no space from outside the line, which made their real wheels collide, launching Verstappen’s car over the top of Hamilton’s. The two cars eventually came to a stop in the gravel trap with the Red Bull clipped over Lewis’ Mercedes. Following the incident, the safety car was deployed immediately as both the drivers climbed out of their cars.

Italian GP 2021 Results

The crash eventually resulted in a McLaren 1-2 (Daniel Ricciardo and his team-mate Lando Norris) at the podium, with Valtteri Bottas finishing at P3. Max Verstappen's teammate, Sergio Perez finished the race at P5 behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. 

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Published September 13th, 2021 at 11:25 IST

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