Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, 1st position, and Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes, 2nd position, congratulate each other after the Sprint race
Autosport Plus

The off-track considerations that led to F1’s Hamilton/Verstappen Silverstone shunt

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OPINION: Formula 1’s 2021 title fight turned ugly last weekend when Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton collided at the start of the British Grand Prix. Verstappen thankfully walked away unharmed, but this had been a clash long-since coming

It finally happened. Formula 1 got to see what would’ve happened had an Ayrton Senna/Alain Prost collision – but not Suzuka 1990, to be absolutely clear – taken place in the social media age. And the results, unsurprisingly, were absolutely, shamefully disgusting.

But, leaving behind the opinions of anonymous cowards (which is not to say that horrendous racist abuse such as that directed towards Lewis Hamilton in the aftermath of Sunday’s British Grand Prix shouldn’t be challenged and condemned, it should), F1 can reflect on its fiercest title fight for years arriving at its most contentious flashpoint yet.

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