Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, Silverstone, 2021

Hamilton handed two penalty points for Verstappen collision

2021 British Grand Prix

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Lewis Hamilton has been given two penalty points on his super licence following his opening lap colision with Max Verstappen.

The Mercedes driver tangled with his championship rival at Copse on the first lap of the race. Hamilton was trying to pass Verstappen on the inside for first place when the pair made contact, sending Verstappen into the barrier at high speed.

The stewards held Hamilton responsible for the collision, handing him a 10-second time penalty, which he served at his pit stop. Hamilton was able to catch and pass leader Charles Leclerc in the closing laps to take victory and close Verstappen’s championship lead to eight points.

“Cars 33 [Verstappen] and 44 [Hamilton] entered turn 9 [Copse] with Car 33 in the lead and Car 44 slightly behind and on the inside,” described the stewards in their judgement.

“Car 44 was on a line that did not reach the apex of the corner, with room available to the inside. When Car 33 turned into the corner, Car 44 did not avoid contact and the left front of Car 44 contacted the right rear of Car 33. Car 44 is judged predominantly at fault.”

The two penalty points issued by the stewards bring Hamilton to a total of four points over the last 12 months. Any driver who reaches a total of 12 points on their super license in a 12 month period will receive a race ban.

Verstappen was evaluated in the Silverstone medical centre following the accident and was later transferred to a local hospital for further examination.

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90 comments on “Hamilton handed two penalty points for Verstappen collision”

  1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
    18th July 2021, 17:50

    Ridiculous penalty… If you’re going to give a penalty, Max is the one who should have gotten one. Completely immature racing. I’ve said it before and I was kind of hoping he’d learn but we are still seeing the Maldonado moves from him…

    1. @freelittlebirds
      Both most of us AND the F1 specialists that consist of experienced professional drivers disagree with you. So perhaps you should reconsider your stance, mate.

      1. @amian
        Most of them also called it a racing incident where both drivers could have been less aggressive, so in the end, racing incident and most called for no penalty so…….

      2. Did you even watch the onboard from Max’s car? he understeered into the corner and had to correct mid way and hit Hamilton’s car in the process. If there was enough space, he would’ve made the correction and “maybe” be ahead after copse. This penalty is ridiculous in its own merit given the same happened in Austria but the drivers were given 5 second penalty and not 10. This is just another way of FIA wanting RBR to get the title.

        1. I can’t belive what I’m reading here. First of all, the situations in Austria wasn’t no way near 300km/h so to compare it to Silverstone is just ridiculous. Second, Max understeers and takes a tighter turn? Is that what you are saying? How is that even possible?

          1. Does Ham enter the corner to fast and understeer? Yes
          2. Does he completly miss the apex? Yes
          3. Does Ver leave room for atleast one car on the inside? Also yes

      3. This comment section needs an admin.

    2. Max was ahead on the track and looking to make the corner. Lewis understeered into him and was extremely lucky to get away with only a 10 second penalty and 2 points. Dangerous to try and overtake a car with higher downforce and better cornering ability on the fastest corner.

      Stupid and the result of the pressure Max is applying.

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        18th July 2021, 18:28

        @frasier understeered? Last I checked, Lewis didn’t run into Max. Max clipped Lewis by misjudging the distance. Just another silly rookie mistake by Max in wheel-to-wheel conditions.

        1. You insist that you are right, while the majority and most importantly the stewards are of another opinion. Go on and keep making a fool of you.

        2. Watching F1 in braille isn’t really working mate. Go find a more suitable way to fill your spare time.

        3. I agree with you. I’d say it was a contested line that Max misjudged by assuming he had better pace.

      2. Max is all upset because he thought Lewis would back out of the move he thought he was going to force Lewis to let him through but for ounce Lewis went for it and Max paid instead of his opponent.

    3. 2 points? What a joke, could have killed him. Very poor and desperate move from sir … LH

    4. You’re wrong @freelittlebirds. He’s the attacker, he wasn’t fully alongside and Max has every right to turn in. I’m a Hamilton fan, but I don’t agree with you here.

      1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
        18th July 2021, 19:20

        @john-h by the same token, on the previous corner Lewis was ahead of Max and therefore could have turned in fully and taken out Max… Did Lewis take out Max? He was fully entitled to it, right?

        Did you see how close Max cut in front of Lewis and how Lewis avoided a collision for the umpteenth time. The “fully alongside” is great when Karun Chandhok does the frame-by-frame analysis but Max didn’t know that and neither did Lewis.

        Max is not entitled to the full track – he had plenty of space to make the corner without clipping Lewis. It was simply a miscalculation that ended up in a huge accident.

        My issue with that is that if you do that a dozen times, you’re bound to get it wrong once and you could end up killing yourself, the other driver, and spectators (the wheel came off and thank god did not end up in the crowd). If he wants to be a WDC, he can’t afford to make those errors especially when the other driver is such a good wheel-to-wheel racer.

        1. I think you’re referring to Luffield @freelittlebirds. As mentioned this is a little more nuanced as to the racing line. I think had Max and Hamilton collided there that would have been 50/50 imho. Maybe that was in Lewis’ mind when he went for it at Copse, but personally I found the whole thing pretty reckless there. Not deliberate, but poor judgement.

        2. Barbara Sexton
          18th July 2021, 22:13

          I totally agree !!! Lewis avoided Max prior to this. As you said, Max does not have the full track for himself! His presumption was that Lewis would back off again! Not this time Josephine…..!!!

        3. Lewis had room on the inside but elected not to avoid accident. That is why he got penalty. And since Verstappen’s rear tyre clipped his front wing they were nowhere near alongside.

      2. I’m afraid it’s you who are wrong and wrong on two facts.

        1. Hamilton had been more than 50% alongside and that gave him the right to be allowed space.

        2. Hamilton was in the process of backing off and had slowed considerably by the time Verstappen cut into him.

        Both those facts can clearly be confirmed by watching the overhead video.

    5. Please just shut up. You’re blind with Max hate

    6. FIA are to blame for allowing this style of aggressive behaviour behind the wheel. Racers lives are not expendable for the enjoyment of the public. Risky moves on high speed corners can end in death. Just because it is a race it shouldnt be lethal. Shame on Masi and FIA

  2. This is inconsistent with the Austrian penalties. There, drivers were given 5 second penalties with 2 points.

    What is the logic behind these? Both happened against an opponent driver, both included contact with an other driver.

    1. @imre
      In Austria the driver on the outside was pushed out during the corner exit. There was no under steering (aka loss of control from coming too fast) from the driver on the inside, just squeezing the driver out. This incident meanwhile happened at the middle of the cornering. See russel and sainz yesterday for a similar case

  3. That makes the situation even worse.
    Whether right or wrong, Masi is admitting HAM is at fault. If so, he deserved more than a 10 second penalty.
    A two points penalty is a poor attempt to save face – he would have done better to let it go.

    1. Masi does not hand out the penalties, the stewards does.

    2. I think the penalty fits the error for a first lap incident. I dont like it since he hardly was troubled by the penalty, but thats another thing. Racing incident, bound to happen. Lewis at fault and penalised. Case closed you would think. But no, Lewis who did this before on Albon twice then goes to tell the world Verstappen has an aggressive driving style? Starts over dramatised victory celebrations where you can see the insecurity and guilt in his eyes. 51G, he is prepared to go far to win, thats for sure. And it is a deliberate tactic, make no mistake. He knows he is at fault and resorts to low level comments in the hope to destabilise RB and Max. Since he knows he’ll need it to beat Max. All the signs of a once great man in process of leaving the sport

  4. Leclerc gave have him room. Max gave no room. That was the result. It was a racing incident.
    Max is a dirty over-aggressive driver. Lewis was avoiding contact with him throughout that opening lap one person alone can’t avoid contact all the time. Max always puts the other driver in a position that they have to back out or the contact will be made.
    Max got what he deserves. Dirty driver.

    1. “always puts the other driver in a position that they have to back out or the contact will be made,” was said many a time that LH did that to NR and others to great applause by his fans and the commentators.

      1. ian dearing
        18th July 2021, 18:13

        And many of Max fans applaud Max for having the same attitude; and have delighted in the times Max has done it to others. Maybe Ham has now had enough of giving Max that extra bit of room he has spoken about in the past, It sounded like it in his F1 interview a few minutes ago.

        1. Right so Max was just racing then and LH was the stubborn one, and just as when Nico was the stubborn one and hit LH it was Nico’s fault. Hence the penalty to LH today.

        2. Fair of him to think so and take a stand, but then execute it in a proper way. This was so clumsy (after Albon 2019 and Albon 2020). If you want to do it, do it right. Now he just seems incapable and desperate. He has lost important moral and mental ground vs Verstappen with that error. He has clearly send the message that he can’t do it anymore without residing to foul play

    2. +1.. A more wiser driver would of done what LEC done and known the corner was lost and avoided contact, if he hadnt of crashed he would of gone wide anyway and lost position but would of been able to keep racing, racing incident all day long.

    3. Sam Donaldson, ABC News
      18th July 2021, 18:10

      Agree with AMG44.

    4. @amg44
      Exactly. We’ve seen Max chop other drivers off many times over the years, with no consequence, no penalty despite the dangerous blocking. Ricciardo got sick of it, left the team. Many drivers have complained about the guy over the years, the team did nothing, the FIA did nothing, now Christian Horner wants to cry about this result? Better to keep your mouth shut, put your head down, and get back to work.

      Seems to me Christian Horner and Dietrich are doing a lot of huffing and puffing over a marginal incident, but when their own driver has needlessly risked the lives of other drivers the cowards remain silent. Typical.

    5. Have another look – Max left him more than a cars width. Lewis simply drove into Max

    6. Nope. Hamilton wasn’t fully alongside @amg44. He doesn’t have to leave room, and he even did leave some anyway.

      1. So he was right, lost the race and points. Sometimes it’s better not to be so aggressively right. Hamilton has talked about that in many interviews.

  5. +10

  6. Sam (@undercut677)
    18th July 2021, 17:59

    Hamilton gets the same 2 point penalty as Norris last race. Yea, makes total sense.

  7. Far too lenient a penalty any way you look at it. Sets a very bad precedent.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      18th July 2021, 18:33

      @andrewwj What sets a bad precedent and has over the past 5 years is how reckless Max is and how he’s never been penalized for his errors… Max deserved a penalty for this today and because of the outcome he got away with it, again….

      1. +1 exactly Max’s on track entitlement has been pumped up over the last 5 years and it was time he begins to earn the right to be ahead rather than aggregation all the time. Come to think of it. He is a very pathetic tactician in wheel to wheel compacts, comes with only one strategy aggression which will never win him a championship. May win him races here and there. But in these times where the cars are getting more and more evenly matched. He has more to lose than Lewis why drive in postmortem style having a 33 point lead fall into a 7 point lead

        1. No its very easy as of now… you just have to crash all other drivers. Resulting in a 10 sec penalty.
          18 x 10 seconds and 50 laps to drive in your own style and tempo. Bottas will follow so no stress there..

    2. I hope it does to be honest. Eye for an eye, corner for a corner.

  8. Well, oficially, nobody will talk about the sprint during the next couple of days..

    1. Or tyres!

    2. The Sprint is what set up this situation. Perez was not a concern to hold up Ham and Max won the Sprint to sit on pole.

      The fact that all the Brits/Ham fans are more in love with this race than any in the last thousand years is only because of the Sprint.

  9. Hamilton is ruthless the same way Schumacher/Ferrari were and to the same effect. Whatever is outcome of the season, this is the type of tactics and ruling is what it would be remember by.

    1. So Max was cute and cuddly when pushed Lewis in Barcelona, and Imola.

      1. Or wlhen he (Max) dove it and hit Vettel in Singapore, 2018.

        1. you are for real?
          Max hit Vettel ( and raik of course)
          LOL

        2. @waptraveler Seb’s movement caused the 2017 Singapore GP three-way crash.

          1. I was talking about the 2018 race, when Max dove inside at the apex..Max even admitted it was his fault. And I’m not really slamming Max for that either, Just think it is ridiculous for Horner to be calling for a race ban for Lewis in this instance.

  10. Is there any rule for filing for a penalty after the race?

    1. ian dearing
      18th July 2021, 18:14

      Based on how much you like or dislike a driver? No.

  11. prost and senna showed us this way before

  12. Hamilton stirring was on full lock to the right 🤷🏿🤷🏿🤷🏿🤷🏿🤷🏿. So the penalty is idiotic

  13. Mark in Florida
    18th July 2021, 18:21

    Hamilton put the old Rossberg slide on him at 180 mph. Utterly ruthless and received a no penalty, penalty. Got to love the politics of it all. And people say Indy Racing is a joke…hmmm not so sure.

    1. Michael (@freelittlebirds)
      18th July 2021, 18:29

      How on earth do you view that as Lewis’s fault and ruthless?

      1. Mark in Florida
        18th July 2021, 20:36

        (@freelittlebirds )You did see where Lewis was declared at fault? That’s how he got the menial 10 second penalty and two points. Also if you are bumping and banging in low speed corners that’s a he!! of a lot of different doing it at 180 mph. There’s something called physics involved and energy dissipation along the way until you get crushed by 52 g. by the sudden stop.

  14. Far too lenient…. His actions put another diver in hospital!

    1. The fact that you appear glad Max had to go to hospital just shows the sort of horrible person you are. Please take a step back and evaluate yourself.

      1. Wait… what? Surely a horrible person would actually want Max to not go to hospital, the best place to be after a high speed crash??

      2. This comment section is becoming a joke with a troll like Michael and devalues the site in general. Whoever wishes a person harm, as Michael suggests, should be banned/IP blocked.

    2. LH was for the first time I have seen the dirty driver today. Didn’t think he would be such a sore loser. Bit desperate move there. Injuries of MV could have been much worse. Penalty is a Joke. And celebrating like he already won the WC. Great actor though.

    3. aNd ThAt’S eXaCtLy WhErE mAx BeLoNgS

      1. boom, gone that comment went.

    4. Poor taste @freelittlebirds whatever you think about the incident. Indeed it kind of discredits any opinion you have with this kind of attitude and comment.

    5. Even worse… The fact that he didn’t do anything to avoid it should be held to Lewis… Apparently putting someone in the barriers at 180mph is no deterrent for Hamilton… 2 points far to leanient. He should at the very least have gotten a probation period with a race ban (or 3?) over his head.

      This will come back to bite him mark my words.

  15. There were 3 times in the opening lap when Max was driving like “Back off, Lewis, or we crash!” In fact, Max once left the track with all four wheels, gained an advantage and came back in front of Lewis. Max didn’t deserve to be in front of Lewis at the moment when they collided.

    1. Agree. Lewis avoided contact at least 2 times in those opening few corners. But Max wants the other driver to back off all the time. This time Max should have backed off. When other driver is backing off twice already, can’t you back off at least once? Max needs to get Cleaner and more respectful towards others on track.

      1. @bulgarian @amg44
        Max was defending his position as leader.
        He did some amazing tricks that frustrated lewis. He was pushed wide and left the track once, but during first ap that is quite normal. He crossed back with lewis and had an answer to all his attacks. great stuff. It was the frustration that made lewis a rookie and totally missed the apex and did not used the space he was left by max.
        Lewis lost control ( look at the onboard) and understeered into max. His car was to heavy and his tires to cold for such an adventure.
        very amateur and rookie style.
        The pressure to win was enormous for Lewis and all was allowed. He lost his head and a lot of respect, even with a large part of his fanbase.

    2. @bulgarian @amg44
      I couldn’t agree more with you. A collision was inevitable after Abbey and Brooklands.

  16. Lewis better send these guys Christmas cards this year.

  17. Lewis has finally showed the ever over aggressive bully that vers is that he is no push over. Too many times has lewis and other drivers left extra space or gave up the fight for a corner with vers because all the drivers know just how agressive vers is. He was bumping into lewis on the straights. I mean the guy should now learn that the track is not his. Well done to Lewis penalty and all. Put your elbows out and show him whi IS the 7 time world champion.

    1. Well said. Max thinks he can get away with it all the time. He never backs off and expects the other driver to back off ALWAYS.

    2. Completely agree.
      Max has become as bad as his father was. Appears to think everyone should let him pass or he will bully past them.
      Hamilton is showing him after previous contact during this race and previous races, his game must cease, hopefully he will become more wary now. Glad he is uninjured but hopefully he will change his gung-ho attitude.
      Also first lap a certain amount of leniency is normally shown therefore 10 seconds unreasonable, should have been 5 seconds.

    3. You are living in the past. Max and us have moved on from 2017/2018. Lets compare recent penalty points and keep in mind Lewis has gathered them despite being on the front row all the time

  18. Jockey Ewing
    18th July 2021, 20:33

    Alongside this, and Kimi’s crash, after which Kimi was awarded 2 penalty points + time penalty, the 3 penalty points for the drivers, who failed to slow down at the double waved yellows following the Kimi vs Vettel incident seems to be a bit too much.
    Although, I think this 2 penalty points + some time penalty is and was applied at about consistently for causing a crash without additional bad intentions or wrongdoings, and the 3 penalty points for not slowing down at double waved yellows is and was applied at about consistently.

    So these are the standard penalties in these two cases. I understand, the 3 points for the double waved yellows is so strict, because they want to avoid another sad accident like Jules Bianchi’s one. But at causing a crsah vs not slowing enough without any other info and weighing the 3 points seems to be a bit too much for me.

    And yes, imo understeering into someone, or locking up and causing something is at about the same level of causing an incident. If someone lifts a bit as backing out of an overtake attempt, that is enough to avoid most of these accindents, and is enough to turn the understeer into oversteer to neutralize the situation. Understeering into someone is a bit less spectacular, or less easier to see, and sadly we do not have all access telemetry :) But this is why stewards should have unconditional all access telemetry, and scrutineers should have all access transparency. And if they can’t handle their responsibility, and participating some kind of spying, then the punishment should be appropriate, considering that they have done so in an evironment what is about investments and return of investments in the range of hundred millions of dollars per season. If it is all done, Wolff does not need to send emails, and I do not need to hear such things in radio, while stewards are said to be working in isolation during the race.

    Imo this kind of “alltalk” at radio is strategy-wise restrictive at a sport which aims to be highly competitive. It dumbs down the strategy possibilities. Yeah there is flowers language. Probalby the best moments are where it becomes obvious, or when they need to drop flowers language in the case of urgency :) “Alltalk” was a server option at Counter-strike, but imo even at most of the serious public servers it was considered to be unsuitable for competitive-like enjoyment. And imo bringing down the skill ceiling and increasing accessibility to fit the taste of the average is not the way at genuine competitive environments. That is just about selling out.

    1. Jockey Ewing
      18th July 2021, 20:34

      Oh I forgot to mention that the Kimi vs Vettel crash happened at last race, at Austria.

  19. Totally wreckless Hamilton should have been black flagged. Of course he is un touchable for obvious reasons! What? Has he got to kill someone before someone raines this idiot in?

  20. JACKYBOY064
    18th July 2021, 22:09

    I agree that Hamilton was more to blame than Verstappen but Verstappen also had more to lose. Had he let Hamilton through and then Hamilton wins, all that happens is Verstappen loses 7 points (8 with fastest lap) and he maintains a 25/26 point lead over Hamilton. We saw both Norris and Leclerc take more conservative lines or back out sooner because Hamilton had the inside line and was alongside. I’m not saying it’s right for a driver to ‘bully’ their way through but anyone criticising Hamilton for it should look at the fact that Verstappen has been doing this for years and built up a reputation for going for brave moves which could end badly if the other driver didn’t back out.
    For the first few corners Verstappen kept pushing Hamilton wide and being aggressive with his moves. Hamilton maybe shouldn’t have gone for it but I don’t think any of us would have been surprised if it had been the other way round with Verstappen trying to go up the inside. There was always going to be this moment and obviously you don’t want it to be a massive crash that puts anyone at risk but it was inevitable at some point.

    1. Best comment here I completely agree

  21. FirstnotSecond
    19th July 2021, 9:11

    I’m pretty amazed at the bias in some of the conversation above.

    Facts are simples: approaching the corner at 200 mph HAM couldn’t see the apex, the driver next to him could. That driver is on the “racing line” and you have to yield to that line. Foul HAM.
    End of discussion on facts.

    Intentions are tougher:
    Was VER reckless? Well… he could see the apex and knew he had the line, why would he do anything differently? Why should he?

    Was HAM reckless? Well… it seems that way… he was hoping VER wouldn’t go for the apex and leave him room to push. But HAM was also quite lucky. A few millimeters of variance in that crash and HAM spins / loses a wing or tyre too. His aggression at holding the non-line could have put them both in the hospital, so personally I file that under “reckless.”

  22. So this is how Hamelton acts under pressure after losing 4 races in a row. Panic??
    I think Max will wait for the right moment to get him back.

    1. He wont need to. Max knows by now how to overtake a car. Lewis needs a refreshment course though

  23. What a joke….Only 2 penalty points on his drivers license.This gives Max a free way to box Lewis from the track.Especially at Zandvoort.Because only 2 penalty points is almost nothing….

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