“Would have been a DNF had it not been red-flagged”– Mercedes reveals Lews Hamilton wouldn’t have won if it wasn’t for a red flag.
Lewis Hamilton registered his record eighth win at Silverstone and taking his totally wins tally to 98. But many have accused him of dangerously jeopardizing Max Verstappen’s race and demanded more stringent action.
However, Mercedes’ Andrew Shovlin explains that nothing would have mattered if there were no red flags, as Hamilton’s car was on the brink of collapse after the collision, and the race stoppage rescued Mercedes.
“We’d failed the rim where we’d had the contact at the front-left,” said Shovlin. “So that would have been a DNF [did not finish] had it not been red-flagged.”
Mercedes’ crew easily fixed the issue, but Shovlin also clarified that it was remarkably little from the front wing that needed to be fixed.
“There was a tyre temperature sensor that had got knocked loose so it was waggling around,” he said. “But amazingly, it’s the least important part on the front wing and it was the only one that broke.”
Lewis Hamilton receiving racist abuse
As mentioned above, Hamilton was quick to become a victim of an online outrage, which unfortunately took an ugly turn, as a section of the social media audience started to racially abuse Hamilton.
Formula 1, Mercedes, FIA and later other teams, including Red Bull, took cognizance of the matter and released statements condemning the alleged racial attacks on the seven-time world champion.
This also comes after when Hamilton, with his commission report, suggested viable routes to curb racism in F1, validating his point of racial injustice in sports.
