“That’s racing”– FIA President reveals his opinion on the crash between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen; tells Red Bull to calm down.
Red Bull took an aggressive stance when Lewis Hamilton collided with Max Verstappen in Silverstone, causing a 51G crash on the Dutchman. The stewards penalized Hamilton with a 10-second penalty.
Max Verstappen crash at Silverstone#TheSupercarSquad pic.twitter.com/cICwVGUvuk
— The Supercar Squad (@thesupercar_sqd) July 29, 2021
But it was not enough for Red Bull, who asked for more, and even allegedly made personal attacks on Hamilton; moreover, the Briton also faced alleged racial attacks from the fans displeased with the incident,
Reflecting on the incident, FIA president Jean Todt said to Red Bull that it was just racing, even though he is sorry for his team’s ordeals. Meanwhile, many other racers and F1 experts passed the episode as a racing incident and not a malicious attack.
“I told Christian Horner I was sorry about what happened to his driver, but that’s racing,” Todt told Sport Bild. “People sometimes forget Verstappen crashed in the fastest corner, and the next day he would have driven the race if there had been one.
“We should be happy to have a competition between two teams and two drivers. For the fans, I would even prefer if it was between four drivers, but it’s still better than having just one team out in front. It’s good for the sport that there is such ambition and tension.”
Heavy financial loss to Red Bull
After the Hungarian Grand Prix, Red Bull revealed that the cumulative loss to their team after the collisions in Silverstone and Hungary had reached €3million, giving them a major expense amidst the season.
Seeing this, Red Bull has asked F1 to exclude the repair expense out of the budget cap imposed on the teams, as it would only financially burden the teams even when they are not at fault.
