Mercedes driver Andrew Shovlin considers an accident between Formula 1 title rivals Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen to be “inevitable”.
The first-lap collision between Hamilton and Verstappen at the British Grand Prix ignited their title fight and sparked heated debates across F1 over who was responsible for the incident.
Hamilton was given a 10-second time penalty after the stewards found him the main culprit in the Copse collision that resulted in a 51G crash for Verstappen.
After Hamilton had served the penalty in the pits, Hamilton was able to fight for his eighth Silverstone victory, which reduced Verstappen’s lead in the championship to eight points.
Hamilton and Verstappen have had a number of close wheel-to-wheel battles this year, but Silverstone was the first time they had significant contact.
The duo came close to touching several times on the first lap leading up to their collision, particularly at Brooklands when Verstappen was defending the inside line.
After the race, Mercedes track engineer Shovlin said the aggression displayed by Verstappen had previously forced Hamilton to withdraw from the fighting, meaning an incident like this was inevitable.
“If you look at the sprint race, [and] If you watch the first lap of the main race, Lewis had to keep getting out to avoid a collision, ”said Shovlin.
“He was able to put his car in a position where he could assert himself.
“Max drives aggressively and it is inevitable that one day we will have an accident.
“But we were happy with Lewis’ work and a little disappointed with the penalty, but relieved that we could still win the race.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner was furious about the penalty imposed by the stewards and called her “servant” after Hamilton recovered and won the race to reduce Verstappen’s lead.
The incident has led to comparisons with previous falls between title rivals involving Ayrton Senna and Alain Prost in Suzuka in 1989 and 1990.
When asked whether he considered a crash between Hamilton and Verstappen to be inevitable, Mercedes F1 team principal Toto Wolff said it was “a situation that you have all seen in the past as great drivers compete against each other”.
“If nobody wants to give in, a situation like this can happen,” added Wolff after the race.
“But for me it takes two to tango.
“This championship was always very intense because we fought with everything to keep this championship, even though we knew that we were not as capable as Red Bull and Honda.
“That’s why we lost a lot of points in the past and we have scored big points today. So it always balances out. “
