[Ex] F1-Drivers on the Lewis x Max incident
Fernando Alonso
“It is difficult from the outside. It looked quite close, Lewis had more than half a car alongside Max. So, in a way, Lewis could not disappear from the inside line, it’s not that you can vanish.
It was an unfortunate moment of the race, but nothing intentional or nothing that any of the two drivers did wrong in my opinion. That was an unlucky moment.”
Carlos Sainz
“I obviously had a look at it, and honestly I had a bit of mixed feelings with the accident. First of all, wishing Max a speedy recovery, because I heard the crash was quite big.
“The accident itself I think is very difficult to judge. Only both know what they could have done differently to avoid the crash. It was very tight, they're obviously fighting for big things and I'd prefer not to judge too much.”
Charles Leclerc
“It is very difficult to judge it from the car, we are very low, so it’s difficult to see everything and it went very quickly. I could see there was quite a bit going on in front of me. I think it’s a racing incident. It is quite difficult to put the blame on one or the other.
“Obviously, there was the space on the inside. Maybe Lewis was not completely at the apex, but it’s also true that Max was quite aggressive on the outside. Things happen but I think what is most important today is that Max is unharmed and is fine.”
Daniel Ricciardo
“When you’re in such a high-speed corner and just side-by-side, you’re both going to lose aero, particularly Lewis there with Max kind of in a little bit of dirty air. But I think they were both going in hot.”
“Ultimately Lewis went in too hot for the for the given level of grip and that’s where you see [he] just drifted up into Max. Completely unintentional, but just the nature of the aero on these cars and [you] just have to allow a little more, but I’m certainly not going to sit here and judge and say he should have done that or that.”
Karun Chandhok analysing the crash for Sky Sports F1
“Max gives him the space, Hamilton is up the inside, but at no point... has he moved in front of Max Verstappen. Max is coming in and Lewis… does appear to be wide of the apex. When they’re making contact, his trajectory is heading wide of the apex.
[Max] has given Lewis racing room, but he’s also, I think, expected Lewis to back out of it, that’s the critical thing. I think Lewis expected Max to back out of it, and Max expected Lewis to back out of it. Max could have given Lewis more room, but Lewis equally could have gone more to the kerb on the right-hand side… If you ask me, they could have both done more to avoid the incident, but I would put it down as a racing incident.”
Jolyon Palmer, former Renault F1 driver
“To be honest, [Lewis] is actually pretty much completely alongside Max – and then you’ve got two championship challengers gunning for the inside line at Copse, and one of them had to back out. “Lewis] was completely alongside – obviously he misses the apex slightly and moves into Max, but Max also keeps turning in, and he’s taking a huge risk doing that at Copse corner.
“It’s a tough one, a really tough one. I could have seen it as a racing incident, both racing each other so hard.”
Aston Martin boss Otmar Szafnauer
"I've watched it a few times now and to me, if that isn't a racing incident, nothing is. We've often talked about allowing the drivers to race over the first couple of laps for the benefit of the fans, and I think that's what happened there.
"To me it was 50-50 there. Max didn't have to turn in when he did and Lewis could have been further right, but to me 100 per cent a racing incident."
Jenson Button on SkySports F1
“At the speed he was going, Lewis had to back out of it. He's misjudged the apex, which is completely fair enough because he's coming in at such a speed from an angle that he never has before. I get the penalty for Lewis, because he was put someone in the wall."
Alex Albon
“This has been brewing since race one of the championship… Part of me thinks Max could have closed [the door] to stop Lewis from ever going into that position, but at the same time… when Lewis overtook Charles, it was a similar position to me, maybe slightly different angles.”
Mika Hakkinen
“My thoughts on #SilverstoneGP:
1. I am very glad Max is OK. That crash looked horrible.
2. It was a pure racing incident.
3. The accident will sure put some fire between Max and Lewis.
4. New race format was exiting to watch.”
Rubens Barrichello
“I would blame Hamilton and give more than 10 seconds. The penalties are: five seconds, 10 seconds, drive on and so on, there's more than that 10 seconds. I would give more than 10 seconds, because those 10 seconds, with the impact his move had, he still had a great chance to win.”
“Verstappen is 23, and next to him comes a guy who is a million times champion. It's almost inevitable to imagine that he's the one who has to think (about not crashing), because the 23-year-old isn't going to think."
"We're talking about two geniuses here: Hamilton and Verstappen. He is the one who will be able to break all Hamilton's records in the future, they are two people who are above average."
David Coulthard
“He has picked up the slipstream, there’s enough space there, Max has opened it, he has given him space but then the speed they’re both carrying into the corner, that has to be Hamilton.”
“He has got to take responsibility for that because Max left him the space. We know that’s not really a corner where you are going to overtake unless you’ve absolutely got it down the inside. Lewis knows up against Max Verstappen, you have to leave your car there and see what happens.”
Mark Webber
“I think we can count on one hand, not too many occasions where Lewis Hamilton has been involved in something relatively controversial.”
“Yes with Nico Rosberg, but this guy, I don’t think he will be proud of that move, he won’t be happy with it. He would have liked to have had that opportunity and that moment again to pull out of that move because it was Max’s corner right at the last minute.”
“It was a tremendously optimistic location to pull a move off like that. A bit clumsy from Lewis.”