“I’m just happy Max is fine” – Valtteri Bottas and Charles Leclerc on who is to be blamed for the incident between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton at Silverstone.
Valtteri Bottas felt something major was going to happen as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen battled it out for the race lead of the British Grand Prix. Verstappen went out crashing into the barriers, but Bottas ruled it to be no more than a racing incident.
“I saw them fighting during lap one, a bit like yesterday [sprint qualifying]. I had a feeling something was going to happen but obviously they were fighting hard. That kind of thing happens, that’s racing. It can happen when you fight hard and you don’t give up.
“I’m just happy Max is fine because it was a big shunt. But I really feel like Lewis fully deserved the win.”
Charles Leclerc relieved Verstappen is unharmed
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc, who took the race lead after the incident, seconded Bottas’ opinion on the collision being nobody’s fault, calling it a racing incident. He also expressed relief that Verstappen has recovered from the 51G impact, and is out of the hospital.
“It is very difficult to judge it from the car, we are very low, so it’s difficult to see everything and it went very quickly. I could see there was quite a bit going on in front of me. I think it’s a racing incident. It is quite difficult to put the blame on one or the other.
“Obviously, there was the space on the inside. Maybe Lewis was not completely at the apex, but it’s also true that Max was quite aggressive on the outside. Things happen but I think what is most important today is that Max is unharmed and is fine.”
