“This is what happens when you don’t leave space” – Max Verstappen furious on the team radio after an incredible crash with Lewis Hamilton leaving both championship contenders in the Monza mud.
As Crofty said, this will be talked about for a long time in the Formula 1 world. It just seemed inevitable, and when it happened, sent shockwaves across the paddock, team bosses Toto Wolff and Christian Horner sporting stunned faces.
Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton crashed into each other, yet again this season. If the crash was terrifying, the aftermath was mind-boggling. Verstappen’s Red Bull half-flew towards Lewis Hamilton, and if it was not for the halo, it could have been a grievous injury for the reigning champion.
As the Red Bull ‘climbed’ over the Mercedes and stayed there as they both found themselves in the mud, Verstappen had this to say on the Red Bull team radio:
This is what happens when you don’t leave space.
WATCH Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton crash in the Italian GP at Monza
INCROYABLE VERSTAPPEN SUR HAMILTON pic.twitter.com/xGduwmLFh1
— (@JPronos23) September 12, 2021
Who will now get the win at Monza?
This race, the Italian GP, was expected to have a significant bearing on the championship rivalry between the duo, but instead, this race is now irrelevant when it comes to that.
If anything, this is good for Verstappen, as a terrible pit-stop of over 11 seconds by the ‘kings of pit stops’ Red Bull left Max Verstappen behind Hamilton as he latter came for his own pit stop of over 4 seconds, significantly slower than usual.
The race has been wide open since the start with Ferrari and McLaren joining in to stake a claim for the win, and one can expect Red and/or Orange in the Monza podium in an hour or so.
At the time of writing, after 32 laps, Daniel Ricciardo is leading the race, right ahead of McLaren teammate Lando Norris. Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez is P3, followed by Valtteri Bottas and the Ferrari duo of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz.