Lewis Hamilton said it did not escape his notice that Max Verstappen didn’t check on his condition after their collision during the Italian Grand Prix.
Verstappen’s Red Bull car landed on top of Hamilton’s when the pair tangled at the Rettifilio chicane during the race.Hamilton described his surprise at finding the Red Bull perched on top of his car. “I definitely didn’t think that Max would lose control over the kerb and run into me,” he said. “But looking back at the footage, as I said, it obviously happened incredibly quick.
“In the car all I can think of is getting going and how many positions I’m losing and I’m still just in race mode. So it’s just like, how can I get going again? And I’m sitting there in a little bit of pain, but just like, come on, let’s go. But unfortunately, the car wouldn’t move.”
Verstappen blamed Hamilton for the collision on his radio before climbing out of his car and walking off.
“I did see Max get out and just walk by,” said Hamilton. “I felt that a little bit surprising because ultimately I think when we do have incidents the first thing we want to make sure is the guy that we crashed into, we collide with, is okay.
“But the good thing is I was able to get out and it was a long walk back but we live to fight another day.”
Hamilton confirmed the right-rear wheel on Verstappen’s car hit his crash helmet. Speaking several hours after the race, Hamilton said he was feeling more pain from his neck.
“I’m definitely in a little bit of pain in my neck. It’s feeling like it’s getting a little bit worse as the adrenaline rushes is off. But I’ll work with Ange [Angela Cullen] to fix it.”
Hamilton agreed with team principal Toto Wolff, who said the F1’s car Halo saved him from serious injury.
“Honestly, I feel very, very fortunate today. Thank god for the Halo, that ultimately saved me and saved my neck, I think.”
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2021 Italian Grand Prix
- Who was to blame for Hamilton and Verstappen’s collision at Monza?
- Hamilton-Verstappen crash was ‘a racing incident, no danger’ – Alonso
- Hamilton pleased stewards “set a precedent”, Verstappen “doesn’t fully agree”
- Ricciardo didn’t need title rivals’ latest clash for stunning Monza win
- Why Verstappen’s grid penalty differed from Hamilton’s Silverstone sanction
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
12th September 2021, 18:19
That’s the pay-off. Wow, this championship fight is insane!
David BR (@david-br)
12th September 2021, 21:49
@rodewulf Maybe if you’re a psychopath. I’d expect a relatively normal human being to have some concern they hadn’t seriously harmed a fellow driver. OK so Hamilton was moving. But nothing about Verstappen’s demeanour indicated he was bothered either way.
Patrick (@paeschli)
12th September 2021, 22:17
Let’s not kid ourselves, the greatest champions are all sociopaths behind the wheel, Senna, Prost, Schumacher, Hamilton, Verstappen…
David BR (@david-br)
12th September 2021, 22:32
@paeschli I was actually responding more to @rodewulf‘s ‘pay-off’ line. But you’re probably right, even someone like Vettel has his red mist moments in the heat of battle. Actually I thought there was little interaction either way. You’d kind of expect that, in the past, both drivers would be out and yelling at each other. There seemed to be little communication either way. Lewis seemed busy trying to find reverse for whatever reason (the crumpled rear end didn’t exactly look promising for any racing). Max wasn’t giving anything away at all with his body language. Have to admit, I expected some gesture from one of them at least.
Andre
13th September 2021, 15:09
I’m sorry Patrick but you will have to take Senna out of that group.
Senna would stop his car for other drivers safety (just ask comas) or be concerned if another driver was hurt or injured.
Hamilton is slightly like this too but the rest yes, I’d have to agree
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
14th September 2021, 16:20
Andre
But he caused collisions on purpose as well. He was some sort of villain(esque) hero. But I agree he was pretty much capable of feeling empathy despite being hot-headed.
Miltiadis (@miltosgreekfan)
12th September 2021, 18:21
Oh boy,this is the start of an extremely interesting rivalry….
I really enjoy the racing part, the war of words, well not that much…..
Prab
12th September 2021, 18:25
I think that Verstappen was very hot headed because of his poor pitstop and that resulted in the behavior Lewis mentions.
The hot headedness did not cause the collision though as Max never backs out and this was again 1 of those times. He seriously needs to self reflect on these poor judgements as he is a solid driver. He will eventually fight many other drivers for championships but will develop a very poor repo on the grid (and among the fans) if he continues to not know when to give up.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
12th September 2021, 18:29
He backed out to ricciardo, he picks his battles.
Prab
12th September 2021, 18:33
Riccardo was much much further ahead. Atleast know about what you are commenting.
Swifty (@theswift)
12th September 2021, 18:52
If he does in fact pick his battles, he makes poor choices.
Mayrton
12th September 2021, 19:11
On the contrary, he does pick them and I feel he makes excellent choices. This is what we are here to see. Or would you rather go back to the last 7 years of processional racing with a Mercedes 1-2 guaranteed?
F1oSaurus (@)
12th September 2021, 21:05
True, the Silverstone battle was a great one to pick.
V8hilux
12th September 2021, 18:25
One rule for Max fans one rule for Lewis fans.
How dare Lewis celebrate at Silverstone after Verstapen walked away from his crash and went to hospital for PRECAUTIONARY checks. But totally fine for Max to land on top of Lewis and walk away proclaiming it’s his own fault… true gent. Let’s see the UK orange army spin this one.
Will Jones
12th September 2021, 19:27
High speed < Car contact with driver’s head
grat
12th September 2021, 21:08
Also, don’t forget that Hamilton was almost instantly on his radio to find out if Verstappen was OK– and was told Max was up and walking around, so it was a bit of a surprise to Hamilton to find out Verstappen was even in the hospital.
But again, facts don’t really matter to the Great White Max brigade.
bosyber (@bosyber)
12th September 2021, 21:18
Well that and the whole hubaloo from RBR over HAM supposedly not caring about Max (only for then it turn out that Red Bull knew all the time Merc asked for HAM how VER was doing, though even so Max continuing the day after and dr. M keeping it on for weeks), it makes it rather hypocritical (or hotheaded, which is in a way is much more dangerous from a racing driver).
Fred Fedurch
13th September 2021, 4:23
Racist.
Davethechicken
12th September 2021, 22:36
Max did seem to accelerate when the cars came to a halt, with his rear wheel near Hamiltons head.
Pretty dangerous thing to do
SaMa (@f1g33k)
13th September 2021, 7:18
We had the benefit of multiple camera angles but considering how quickly it happened, there was no way for VER to know how his car was pitched, not as if you can see the car underneath in the mirror.
He was trying to get away assuming it was balanced on HAM’s tyres, same as HAM trying to get away by reversing. It is race driver’s instincts, that’s all.
Sensord4notbeingafanboi (@peartree)
13th September 2021, 0:31
Not like Lewis was not trying to reverse the car. I wouldn’t want to drop from that height. More importantly, the halo is almost useless, not only it does not protect against small objects but also it was seemingly not designed well from above, clearly the halo should be taller.
Matt
13th September 2021, 4:23
‘Almost useless’ is a very unfair assessment when it still stopped him from being crushed by a car. That being said, it is definitely important for the FIA to look into this incident to see where they can improve the halo.
Andy Bunting (@wildbiker)
13th September 2021, 7:26
+1
MacLeod (@macleod)
13th September 2021, 8:37
He did look when he came from behind his car but Lewis was bussy trying to get his car on track by reversing…..
So he walks off to the pit after that.
dbHenry
13th September 2021, 23:42
I’m not in any “Orange Army” but what I saw was quite normal.
You can see Hamilton trying to dislodge his car from Verstappen’s while Verstappen is climbing out of his car. Had Verstappen gone up to the Mercedes and it came free, Verstappen is in a dangerous spot.
It is also not very likely that an injured driver is going to try and free his car to get back on track as Hamilton was doing.
Even if Hamilton was injured, what is Verstappen going to do other than wait for Medical. There was no fire or imminent danger.
Hope this helps.
JI
12th September 2021, 18:27
I remember you celebrated like you won the world championship while Verstappen was in the hospital Lewis….so please
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
12th September 2021, 18:28
Absolutely, was about to write this! This is hypocrythe, or how it’s written.
Rockgod (@rockgod)
12th September 2021, 18:32
But at that point Lewis asked if Max was fine and he got the answer that he was. But, today Max didn’t even bother. I’m not sure where the hypocrisy is.
Matt
13th September 2021, 4:27
You don’t understand.
Whatever Lewis says or does= is hypocrisy.
Jeez, it’s almost like you’re using your head instead of blindly hating him.
Todfod (@todfod)
12th September 2021, 18:44
@esplatore1
Let’s be fair to Lewis. He asked whether Max was fine on the radio. He had to celebrate a victory in front of his home fans. Did you expect him to sulk on the podium after knowing well that max was fine?
Max really didn’t care after this crash.. He didn’t even care about mentioning in any of the interviews about Lewis’ condition despite having known his wheel was on the halo.
MacLeod (@macleod)
13th September 2021, 8:54
At that moment i am sure he didn’t see the pictures but this was a low speed accident. It’s not like Silverstone where Max into the barriers with high speed.
We don’t know what happens after when everyone cools down….
Chaitanya
13th September 2021, 10:17
Right and Max also had decency keep his foot planted down on accelarate pedal while car was on top of Lewis.
F1oSaurus (@)
12th September 2021, 21:07
@esploratore1 Whatever way you like to spell it, you clearly revealed yourself as one here.
John H (@john-h)
12th September 2021, 18:34
I’m pretty sure he asked if he was ok and they said that he was. The checks in hospital were precautionary, I mean Verstappen also celebrated his pole position while Norris was having checks didn’t he? I thought we were over that one!
Velocityboy (@velocityboy)
12th September 2021, 18:35
Do you understand what “in the hospital” means in this context? In the hospital means injured and needing medical attention. That was NOT the case with Max so please stop saying it, as it’s not truthful. Additionally, Lewis asked how Max was doing after the collision when Max clearly Max did not do the same when he was within a few feet of Lewis.
If there is a hypocrite here it’s Max. Cries that Lewis celebrated while I was in the hospital as if he had lost a limb in the collision, and then parks his car on Lewis’ head, keeps his foot on the throttle for several seconds knowing his car is on top of his competitors car and doesn’t have the decency to check if Lewis is OK after he gets out of his car.
grat
12th September 2021, 21:09
… after checking with his team that Max was OK, being told Max was walking away from the car, and not being told Max was in the hospital….
If you’re going to make false equivalences, at least get your basic facts correct.
OOliver
12th September 2021, 18:31
I know some of the car got on his helmet and means some of the 800kg+ weight, give or take 70kg.
What surprised me was the commentary of Brundle. He is usually too quick to pass judgement even with all his experience.
Todfod (@todfod)
12th September 2021, 18:45
Yeah.. I have no idea how Brindle made snap judgement of ‘Max clearly wasn’t at fault there’.
DarkSchneider
12th September 2021, 21:40
Lewis is an amazing driver, but i really dislike the mind games he plays.
I don’t like Max kind of “strong ego” personnality, but, in opposite to Lewis, he doesn’t need to fake anything.
He speaks his mind. No filter, maybe blunt, but it’s frank, direct, no faking.
I prefer someone kind of blunt and narrow minded, but frank mind.
Lewis tries to do the same than with Rosberg at Spa.
But like we have seen today, Max isn’t Rosberg, and don’t care about that.
He doesn’t play his game when he closes the door.
And he uses Lewis’s own weapon against him. (closing door and pushing out of track too.)
It’s why Lewis is kind of destabilisized this year.
His usual tricks don’t give results he expects.
Jere (@jerejj)
12th September 2021, 18:32
Surprising indeed, although I thought of Russell-Bottas in Imola as a possibility.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
12th September 2021, 18:37
That was funny. Croft said ‘Russell goes over to check Bottas is okay,’ and moments later Russell hits Bottas!
Dave
13th September 2021, 11:25
And it’s still a racing incident to this day.
Kevin
12th September 2021, 18:32
You sir a an hypocrit mr. Lewis! Was waiting for this. Thats why i don’t respect you.
OOliver
12th September 2021, 18:47
When you have your car on top of another driver, you don’t ask if the driver is okay but you say something like he deserves it. That is trivialising accidents and despicable, but we accept that it was in the heat of the moment.
JL (@j-l)
12th September 2021, 18:33
Lol, he was going full throttle before Max even got out of his car. I’m pretty sure Max knew he was okay.
Lewis is just easily the most fake and hypocritical person on the grid.
Learon
12th September 2021, 18:47
Just listen to the commentary on RTBF, the national Belgian TV channel where you can see the race (for free! and hear great commentary (Belgium is where Max was born). You will hear balanced commentary and none of the rubbish you and other people seem to dish out on this site. This is a racing site, not a place where you worship or demonise drivers. I enjoy reading good articles and commentary on this site in particular. Please take your hatred elsewhere, it is not welcome.
JL (@j-l)
12th September 2021, 19:09
Chill out buddy. I don’t hate Lewis, I have tremendous amount of respect for him as a racing driver, just very little respect for him as a human being. This is just another example of his hypocrisy. Simple as that.
F1oSaurus (@)
12th September 2021, 21:11
@j-l So maybe this was remark was to show the hypocrisy of people like you? Hamilton checked if Verstappen was OK and he was told that he was. So then the matter is done. Verstappen didn’t even bother while he was standing right next to him
dbHenry
13th September 2021, 23:56
Hamilton was trying to dislodge his car from Verstappen’s car while Verstappen was unbuckling and climbing out and continued to do so as Verstappen walked by. It is obvious that Hamilton was not in need of any help.
The hatred is in the fans, it’s gamesmanship between Hamilton and Verstappen.
Olivier
12th September 2021, 18:33
Same here Lewis, I was gobsmacked to witness how Verstappen walked off the scene with disregard to Lewis condition. I mean, his Red Bull was still sitting on top of the Mercedes with Lewis inside the cockpit…
MacLeod (@macleod)
13th September 2021, 8:43
You know Lewis was backingup (or trying) which Max saw when he jumped out of his car so he was ok in Max Mind and he didn’t want to talk to him at the moment….
dbHenry
13th September 2021, 23:58
And what was it that Hamilton was doing while Verstappen was climbing out of his car and walking off? It is pretty obvious if you watched the race.
PaulK (@paulk)
12th September 2021, 18:34
As he said himself in the interview, by the time Max was jumping out of his car Lewis was already trying to reverse to dislodge his car and get back into the track so there was no worries of him not being okay.
My Left Eye (@blik)
12th September 2021, 18:35
Maybe Max saw you trying to reverse your car out back onto the track, if so…………..
Mike Davies (@nanotech)
12th September 2021, 19:45
Exactly. You’re still trying to race, spinning tires in gravel – not exactly safe to walk up to you and check.
Not claiming Max would have anyways but the marshals probably would have tackled VER if he’d tried to go up to HAM still trying to dig himself out. And it was pretty clear he thought he was fine at that point, if he was still trying to race. I don’t think VER is a neurologist…
LB (@burden93)
12th September 2021, 18:38
The fans love to put their driver on a pedestal and claim they’re better than all the rest. Ultimately they are all as bad as each other, you don’t reach the top without having an utterly ruthless streak
Ronald
12th September 2021, 18:46
Hamilton was trying to reverse back onto the track with Verstappen still on top of him. So he did not have to look if he was okay, he had already felt so.
Pathetic.
OOliver
12th September 2021, 18:52
A concussed driver can still have his legs on the throttle.
Rememeber Massa’s crash when struck by a spring, he was still pressing buttons and down shifting even though he had lost consciousness. Some actions become reflex actions with prolonged practise.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
12th September 2021, 19:08
That’s exactly the point. How Verstappen can see that his right rear was over Lewis’s head for a fraction of a second ? The incident happened so quickly and when Max exited his car he can see that it wasn’t on on top of Lewis’s head. I think if he knew Lewis’s head was involved he would have checked him. This is a sport and nobody deserves to be hurt for a race win or a championship.
F1oSaurus (@)
12th September 2021, 21:13
@tifoso1989 You mean Verstappen couldn’t see when he was out of the car? Vettel checked Norris from the comfort of his own car in Spa.
Tifoso1989 (@tifoso1989)
12th September 2021, 23:41
@f1osaurus
When he exited his car it was over Lewis’s front end and not head which is not a dangerous situation. How can he know that his car touched Lewis’s head ? He walked away to avoid the confrontation. I’m no Verstappen fan but I don’t see anything dramatic.
Davethechicken
12th September 2021, 22:40
Max knew his car was on top of Hamiltons but pressed the throttle presumably to drive off. Highly dangerous given the circumstances don’t you think?
dbHenry
14th September 2021, 0:01
No, not really. Both tried to dislodge their cars.
René (@)
12th September 2021, 19:10
Max looked at him when he walked away. He put Max in danger for not shutting down his car.
Nimba (@nimba)
12th September 2021, 21:47
Exactly what I wanted to write, +1
MacLeod (@macleod)
13th September 2021, 8:45
correct
JohnvL
12th September 2021, 23:17
Concussed, but did put the car in reverse first, which is not as easy as on a street car. It’s a theory I guess.
jlb
12th September 2021, 19:03
Just like when you nearly kill Max in Copse and celebrated it like a world championship win.
John H (@john-h)
12th September 2021, 19:08
Please take this vitriol elsewhere. Hamilton was told Max was fine.
Dave
12th September 2021, 19:20
It was a racing incident. No more questions. That’s the closure.
dbHenry
14th September 2021, 0:08
Except that it wasn’t.
Hamilton was mainly, for the most part to blame for the collision at Copse and was penalized for it. Not a racing incident when you get a penalty for it.
Dave
14th September 2021, 11:15
But the penalty could’ve been 15 or 20 seconds…so that Charles could win, possibly.
Racing incident 200%.
dbHenry
14th September 2021, 17:04
Penalties aren’t given with a 3rd party interest in possibly winning the race.
For sure, facts show it was predominantly, for the most part, on Hamilton at Copse. Set your personal views asisde and try looking at the facts.
Dave
24th October 2021, 8:45
Maybe we should stop talking about this. Don’t think it’s a racing incident? How about Racing Incident 300%? Still don’t? Racing Incident 400%.
jeroen bons
12th September 2021, 19:06
Mr. Hamilton is insinuating here. Everybody could see that Max slowed his pace and looked at Hamilton and seeing that he was moving his head and his body pushing the gas-paddle before he resumed his faster pace walking by.
John H (@john-h)
12th September 2021, 19:10
Yep I have to agree. I think Max knew he was fine, to be honest he probably did well not to ‘do a Russell’ in the state of anger he seemed to be in.
MacLeod (@macleod)
13th September 2021, 8:46
If he would did that what for arcticles would be get then?
NewVerstappenFan (@jureo)
12th September 2021, 19:36
Halo looks quite useful now. I cannot imagine all the rear wheel, that Hamilton would take without it.
Maybe cars are to safe and these two then crash all the time.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
12th September 2021, 19:42
They’re as bad as each other and despite the whole ‘we have respect’ thing I get the impression they really don’t like one another.
Saying that though after the celebrations in Silverstone is just him trying to put fuel on a fire.
Pjotr (@pietkoster)
12th September 2021, 19:59
No need to check if you ar full on the throttle in reverse.
Patrick (@anunaki)
12th September 2021, 20:17
Well Lewis was actually trying to back his car away from under the Redbull while Max was getting out of it. That seemed pretty dangerous if you ask me
Hiland (@flyingferrarim)
12th September 2021, 21:01
Oh boy…. Lewis upset that Max didn’t check on him while Max’s car is on top of his and Lewis trying to drive out while Max is climbing out! Should I ask about how Sir Hamilton’s over the top celebrations in Silverstone after Max’s shunt?
Anyways, I do think it was mostly a racing incident, but Max most at fault!
F1oSaurus (@)
12th September 2021, 22:01
What surprised me even more is that Verstappen simply walked across the track instead of going for the marshal’s post right in front of his car. That seems like such a total disregard for safety I wonder how he got away with that?
Davethechicken
12th September 2021, 22:42
Yes, I noticed that too, walking on the race track! Inexplicable.
Fred Fedurch
13th September 2021, 11:47
A driver walked on the track? The horror!
Are you all noobs here? Go to YouTube. Type in Hunt punches marshal trying to stop him crossing track.
Tommy Scragend
12th September 2021, 23:17
The rest of the field had all gone past and there was obviously going to be a safety car so it would be a couple of minutes before anything came past again. It’s not like he was walking on the track dodging between other cars.
dbHenry
14th September 2021, 0:11
You mean the same route that Hamilton took back to the pits as well?
Or you are not going to mention that I guess since it doesn’t fit your agenda.
Dex
13th September 2021, 0:20
He did take a brief look and saw Hamilton still trying to drive away. Was he supposed to talk to him while the wheels were spinning? He was ok, it was obvious. On the other hand, whoever races Hamilton on track ends up with his car broken. He surely checked on Verstappen in the hospital (if we want to be this dramatic and pathetic). I feel the urge to dislike them both for being drama queens, but then I know that most of us actually love this (like in good, old Senna and Prost times). I say keep moral police in Saudi Arabia (we’re even gonna see them soon), they’d both do almost anything to win this in the end; and being nice is a last thing on their minds. After all, imagine those monsters from McLaren, they were jumping from happiness after watching this incident. Sure, they were all worried about everyone’s safety first… Yeah, as much as any of us would.
Balue (@balue)
13th September 2021, 8:18
Usual hypocrisy from him. What can you expect.
rodewulf (@rodewulf)
13th September 2021, 23:16
@balue
Some fans even claim he’s not good on remembering past events, how ingenuous they are. This is cognitive dissonance working at its peak.
Mia
13th September 2021, 8:34
Verstappen demonstrated his limitations. If I’m not in front, I’d hit someone to stay in front. Race craft? Too complicated to develop. For other more complete drivers, racing involves developing race craft, not race bang. Showing care to a fellow driver you just could potentially, nearly killed? Examples from the home front showed him bullying was OK. Too limited for him to be aware of anything else. Use of brawn always comes to the fore to cover the brain limitation. Under Horner and Marko’s leadership, that seemed to be encouraged. RB could always rely on expensive PR and retained mouthpiece.
Contrast that to Mclaren’s mature leadership where they showed how much they understood the importance of Ric winning. For Ric, team harmony and morale as well as showing Lando the merit of restraints.
It’s laughable to claim Max did not want to engage to avoid confrontation or he didn’t see. Are you adding the proof that he is so limited that he couldn’t possibly even guess or aware?
Dave
13th September 2021, 11:26
Racing incident 100%.
Illusive (@illusive)
13th September 2021, 8:39
The guys was trying to reverse the car, which was an unsafe thing to do but lets just forget that cause Lewis knows how to play the victim.
Mayrton
13th September 2021, 19:35
Click bait. Max saw Lewis attempts to back up the Merc while exiting his RB car. What more do you need to know? You might say he is fine when he is trying (several times) to back out won’t you? It is not the easiest of tasks in such a car.
Jeroen Bons
14th September 2021, 11:10
Hamilton is lying in this article to make MV the cold hearted bad boy. He is doing that since 1 1/5 years now.
Max did check Hamilton. There is photo- and video-graphical proof that at Motorsport.com insider. See the photo by: Jerry Andre / Motorsport Images it bears the title: Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, looks on Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W12 after colliding. The photograph is a still from a video. Visable is that MV is holding his step.
In this picture one can also see that the rear wheel of the Merc. is fast spinning, the front wheel is stationairy.