Credits: IMAGO Motorsport Images
Lewis Hamilton returned to the top step of the podium at the 2024 British Grand Prix last weekend after he stormed to victory, having struggled for over two years with Mercedes. While his win brought immense joy to his fans across the globe, the final moments of the race also gave a flashback to the unforgettable 2021 British Grand Prix.
The 2021 season was filled with tough, exciting racing. Moreover, a fierce rivalry between Hamilton and Max Verstappen saw a crucial turn at the Silverstone Circuit.
Heading into the Copse corner of the circuit, the seven-time world champion came wheel-to-wheel with Verstappen, which saw the Dutchman head into the barriers at 300 km/h. As a result of the crash, Verstappen suffered an impact of 51G.
But that’s not all that happened as Verstappen has now revealed that there were long-lasting consequences of that crash for him. “After the Silverstone race, I had vision problems, especially on bumpy tracks or with a lot of billboards along the tracks,” said the three-time world champion.
Following the crash in 2021, the Dutchman was taken to the medical center where nothing major had been reported. However, Verstappen was furious with the Mercedes team and blamed Hamilton for the crash.
Verstappen had also found the Briton’s victory celebration ‘disrespectful.’ After the #44 driver’s much-awaited win at the 2024 British GP, Verstappen has revealed that the most he suffered with his vision problems was at the race in Austin in 2021.
“I fought against blurred images” – Verstappen
Winning in Austin (United States Grand Prix) in 2021 was of utmost importance for Verstappen in the fight for the championship title. Ultimately, the Dutchman saw the chequered flag first with a 1.3s gap over Hamilton but it was not plain sailing, to say the least.
“In that GP I fought not only against Lewis but also against blurred images,” confessed the reigning champion. Verstappen also admitted that he has never talked about it before but “for some laps, it was so bad that I seriously thought about stopping the car“.
Verstappen explained that it felt as if he was driving a speedboat at 300 km/h and the only thing that kept him calm was focusing on his breathing while Hamilton chased him down lap after lap. Following his controversial victory in the 2021 championship, Verstappen has been dominating the track and has added two more titles to his name.
However, a fourth title might slip away in the 2024 season as Red Bull is not as dominant as it was in the previous years. Moreover, the improvements made by McLaren and Mercedes have been remarkable.
