Hamilton is attacked by Christian Horner after the Verstappen crash

The race for the title is back on track after Hamilton and Verstappen crashed at 180 mph

B.and Phil Duncan

Lewis Hamilton believes the race for a record eighth World Championship is back in full swing after his controversial British Grand Prix victory.

Hamilton’s first win since May 9th means he’s traveling to Hungary – the last race before the summer break – just seven points behind Max Verstappen after the Red Bull driver’s dramatic retirement from yesterday’s race. In sun-drenched Silverstone, the championship battle finally boiled over after just nine corners.

Injured from missing pole position when he took down Verstappen in Saturday’s first sprint race, the Brit was ready to take his title boost from Mission Impossible to Mission. to make while Hollywood actor Tom Cruise watched from the Mercedes garage possible. Cue the best and most controversial opening round of last memory.

Hamilton flew off his markings and pulled alongside Verstappen, but the Dutchman slammed the door on the opening Abbey right corner. Verstappen’s defense through the following turns put Hamilton on his front foot, and the Mercedes man temporarily moved ahead of Verstappen on the Wellington Straight at more than 200 mph, only to see Verstappen stay ahead by crossing the racing line Brooklands maintained.

Verstappen ran too far on the Luffield exit, however, giving Hamilton a third, and possibly last, chance at stardom. Verstappen moved to the center of the track to defend himself. Hamilton jerked in one direction and then in the next, Verstappen pushed his rival against a concrete wall on the old pit lane. Verstappen was just ahead as they approached the right-handed copse, but neither was ready to back away.

As Verstappen turned into the corner, Hamilton’s left front wheel hit the right rear of his Red Bull. The force of the impact made Verstappen spin out of control, backing through the gravel and into the barriers to an audible worried groan at the largest gathering at a sporting event in Britain since the pandemic started.

Verstappen’s race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, was on the radio and asked: “Max are you okay?” There was silence for eight seconds. Then suddenly the sound of a man flinching in pain after an impact recorded at an exceptional 51G. Verstappen could barely put two words together, but managed to pull himself out of his destroyed Red Bull machine before he was stooped and visibly in pain.

Paramedics were there and took Verstappen to an ambulance. The fans felt the relief and there was applause when Verstappen waved. The race was canceled and the allegations began, mainly from Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

In a heated radio message to FIA Race Director Michael Masi, Horner said: “Lewis was never anywhere near wrong in this corner. “Every driver who has driven this route knows that you don’t leave a bike in Copse. It’s a huge accident. And it was 100 percent Max’s corner. In my opinion, all of the blame lies with Hamilton, who should never have been in that position.

“You could have had a serious accident. Thank goodness it remained intact, so I hope you will deal with it appropriately. “

After a 35-minute delay, the race restarted with Hamilton now second after Leclerc used the punch on the first lap to take the lead. The stewards’ verdict came. Hamilton was guilty, “mostly at fault” for the accident and imposed a 10-second penalty.

Hamilton served the penalty on his pit stop on lap 27 of 52, bringing him back to fourth place behind Lando Norris, Valtteri Bottas and a dozen seconds behind Leclerc. Hamilton overtook Norris on lap 31 before Bottas was knocked out of the way by Mercedes. The world champion then went on the hunt for Leclerc, with the gap reduced to just 1.5 seconds with four laps to go.

On lap 50 of 52, Hamilton put his Mercedes on the inside of Leclerc’s Ferrari through Copse, but the Monegasque ran far and Hamilton led to the delight of the mostly partisan crowd. Comeback completed. He crossed the finish line 3.8 seconds ahead of Leclerc, Bottas completed the podium and Norris was fourth. Hamilton’s triumph, his 99th, ended a streak of five races.

“It’s been such a tough year,” said Hamilton. “I had a lot of fun, but it was an emotional roller coaster ride like always in a title race. The first four races were close, then we saw them take that step forward. We made a few mistakes as a team, but also lost our performance.

“Did I ever feel like we would be back in the fight for the title? I dont know. I prayed and hoped for it because I thought it would be a real drudgery. But the race is on. “