“I don’t believe our behaviour was disrespectful”– Lewis Hamilton counters Max Verstappen and Red Bull’s accusations

“I don’t believe our behaviour was disrespectful”– Lewis Hamilton raises his voice against Max Verstappen’s complaints about Silverstone celebrations.

Max Verstappen was upset with the celebrations made by Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton after their victory in Silverstone, and called it a “disrespectful display, while their rival is in hospital because of them.”

Back in the office 🇭🇺 pic.twitter.com/AqCWO9mIyR

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) July 29, 2021

After a two-week-long silence, Hamilton decided to answer the attacks laid out by Red Bull’s camp and didn’t find his celebration disrespectful as no one at Mercedes knew where Verstappen was.

“I don’t believe our behaviour was disrespectful, but it’s one thing knowing, and then celebrating what happened, and it’s one thing not knowing and celebrating,” Hamilton said.

“And I wasn’t aware. But it’s my home Grand Prix. And we worked incredibly hard for God knows how long to get a result like that. And what a monumental moment it was for us to experience the whole home crowd being there for the first time, obviously since last year was missed.

“Emotions were running high, and it wasn’t like an intentional celebration. It was just the joy of seeing so many people and so many people celebrating being together, and that’s a natural emotion. I’m not going to hide my emotions. It was an amazing feeling to see so many people.

Of the exact timeline, he added: “I saw on the screen that he [Verstappen] got out the car, and he looked OK, and then I was told that he was fine, so I wasn’t aware until the media press pens afterwards that he had visited the hospital.

“None of us ever want to see another driver injured, or in in harm’s way, or put a driver in harm’s way.”

I would make the same move again.

Despite being found predominately wrong by the stewards and being given a 10-second penalty for it, Hamilton claims he would make those moves again.

“I would do the move exactly the way I did it last,” he said. “In terms of how I’ve reviewed it and, and analysed from all my experience, and my experience over the years speaks for a lot, I wouldn’t change it.”

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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