British Grand Prix – Red Bull’s Max Verstappen says his race was a ‘hard workout’ after being hit by Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel at Silverstone.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was hit from behind by the Ferrari of Sebastian Vettel halfway through the race at Silverstone. Dicing over P3, Vettel had got ahead of the Red Bull through the pitstops after a Safety Car intervention but was caught by Verstappen who swooped past into Stowe.
Braking for the next corner, Vettel misjudged the distance and collided solidly with the rear of Verstappen’s car. Both skittered off into the gravel, but managed to extricate themselves. Vettel pitted immediately for a new front wing and also picked up a ten second time penalty from the race stewards as a result of the collision. He was also awarded two penalty points for the collision. He finished P17.
Verstappen went on to struggle home in P5, and he explained what went through his mind when he got hit from behind: “The race was lost, and the podium, and my focus was now to recover. It was a surprise to recover after smashing across the sausage kerb.”
“My power steering more or less failed and it was a hard work out for me. The seat also popped out and was moving around a lot. The floor was badly damaged – I’m happy to be fifth!”
Vettel immediately went over and apologised to Verstappen after the race, with the Dutch driver acknowledging the gesture: “Seb apologised. After he jumped out of the car, he immediately came to me.”
