Reuters
Formula One F1 – Italian Grand Prix – Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy – September 12, 2021 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton crash out of the race REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
Reuters
Formula One F1 – Italian Grand Prix – Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy – September 12, 2021 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton crash out of the race REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
The rivalry between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen will undeniably go down as one of the greatest rivalries in the history of F1. It started off quite well, with the duo hardly causing any incidents; but one could sense that something was coming. The incident did arrive; that too at the most crucial part of the season – the British GP.
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Verstappen was tightening his grip on the title, but the incident at Silverstone pulled things back for Hamilton. Now, as we look back at the season, Silverstone was indeed the trigger point between the two. From round 10 onwards, incidents kept on coming one after the other.
And the biggest incident took place during the race at Monza; this time, both the drivers had to step out of their cars and neither could make it to the chequered flag.
Reuters
Formula One F1 – Italian Grand Prix – Autodromo Nazionale Monza, Monza, Italy – September 12, 2021 Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton crash out of the race REUTERS/Jennifer Lorenzini
The aftermath was insane, with both sides taking swipes at each other. Eventually, the stewards held Verstappen as the guilty party and charged the Dutchman with a 5-place grid penalty for the following race.
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Max Verstappen looks back at the Monza incident
During the champion’s interview with David Coulthard, Verstappen admitted the incident at Monza changed the course of the season and further punched a hole in the relationship of the two rival teams. The world champion hailed it as an ‘iconic shot’.
“Yeah! I mean, it was of course not great, that whole situation. Yeah, of course, I got a penalty for it which I didn’t agree with, but, it’s gonna be an iconic shot for sure. Luckily, everyone was safe as well. But, yeah, it was an interesting way of how we were on top of each other,” he said.
Asked whether he would gift Hamilton a picture of that crash with his sign on top of it for Christmas, Verstappen laughed and reckoned that he and the 7-time world champion, at some point, would look back at this moment with hilarity.
“I think, soon, we can laugh about it all. That’s for sure,” the Red Bull driver concluded.
Overall, from what we saw after the race in Abu Dhabi and also Mercedes’ latest statement against taking the case to the courtroom, Hamilton and Verstappen’s relationship is very much intact. It will be interesting to see how the rivalry shapes up in 2022.
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