Red Bull are considering their next move as the fallout from Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen’s clash at Silverstone continues.
The Anglo-Austrian squad was furious seeing their Dutch driver hit the barrier at high-speed after being tagged by the Mercedes entering Copse on Lap 1 at last Sunday’s British Grand Prix.
Red Bull was even angrier when Hamilton recovered from a 10-second penalty he was given by the stewards to claim victory, reducing the gap to Verstappen in the Drivers’ Championship to just eight points.
As a result, it is reported the team has hired a lawyer to look over the regulations and the incident itself to see if any further action should be pursued.
“We are reviewing all the evidence before making any further decisions,” a spokesman said.
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According to Sky Sports’ Martin Brundle, Red Bull still believe the collision was a “professional foul” and claim to have proof.
“I am told by Red Bull there is data to prove Lewis was significantly faster into Copse than at any other time and he would not have made the corner without running wide, and inevitably contacting Max,” he wrote in his post-race column.
“Presumably, that will be made publicly available and if Red Bull feel they have ‘new evidence’ they may well make an appeal to the FIA as to their perceived degree of fault and leniency regarding Hamilton.”
Two angles, one collision, many views! ??#BritishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/qIZ3Qp7KiD
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 20, 2021
However, FIA race director Michael Masi defended the penalty given to Lewis, revealing Verstappen’s subsequent crash would not be considered in the investigation.
“One of the big parts [which] has been a mainstay for many, many years is that – and this came through discussions prior to my time between all of the teams, the FIA and F1 – the team principals were all quite adamant that you should not consider the consequences in an incident,” he said.
“So when they’re judging incidents, they judge the incident itself and the merits of the incident, not what happens afterwards as a consequence. And that’s been something that the stewards have done for many years and have been advised to do from the top down.”
Masi also warned: “If you start taking consequences into account, there’s so many variables rather than judging the incident itself on its merits.”
Mercedes has continued to pin the blame on Verstappen’s aggression for the incident last Sunday, with chief technical officer James Allison suggesting Hamilton was in a position to command more racing room.
“As far as we were concerned, the manoeuvre that Lewis did was absolutely in line with the FIA’s overtaking guide,” he said.
Verstappen and Hamilton collide!
The title rivals come together at Copse, pitching Verstappen into a high-speed crash.
The Dutchman was able to walk away but he has been taken to hospital for precautionary checks#BritishGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/ol1s9dRJoa
— Formula 1 (@F1) July 18, 2021
“If you are overtaking on the inside of the corner, then the guidance requires that you are substantially alongside, it is not required that you are ahead, and Lewis definitely was substantially alongside.
“So I did feel that it was harsh to get the penalty, this is about what are the rules to do with overtaking and I didn’t see that Lewis did anything wrong with respect to those rules.”
In the heat of the moment, Red Bull’s Christian Horner accused Hamilton of “dirty driving”, something Mercedes boss Toto Wolff strongly denied.
“Everybody has an opinion, that’s okay,” he said post-race. “Everyone will have a certain bias towards incidents like that.
“When you hear the comments about his driving and the incident, Lewis is the contrary of someone that ever drives dirty.
“I think he’s a sportsman. We have not seen any big incidents with him and that’s why he keeps his demeanour. And you saw it, the incident wasn’t particularly bothering him.”