The battle between the Red Bull and Mercedes teams in 2021 resulted in a large number of on-track accidents. The desire to win from Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen led the two drivers to many dangerous actions that could have been fatal. Among them, the crash with Hamilton that occurred in 2021 at Silverstone, in which Max Verstappen ended up in the barrier.
Since this incident, which had been particularly violent and shocking for the fans, the driver seems to be suffering from health problems, including vision problems that particularly affect him on certain tracks.
An error that has its consequences.
During the first lap of the race at Silverstone, Verstappen and Hamilton fought for the lead of the grid through the fast Copse corner, resulting in a slight contact between their wheels. This incident had sent Verstappen into a tire barrier with an impact of 51g, causing significant damage to the car, but so far, the driver seemed to have recovered from it.
Max Verstappen, world champion that year, recently revealed that he has been struggling with serious vision problems for three years. The Dutch driver admitted that these problems are the result of his accident at the 2021 British Grand Prix, following his duel and collision with Lewis Hamilton. « Since my crash at Silverstone, I have visibility issues, especially on undulating circuits or those with a lot of advertising boards along the track. I »
He notably cited the Circuit of the Americas in Austin as one of his most beautiful victories after the accident. ” In this race [in Austin], I wasn’t just battling against Lewis, but also against blurry images. It was like driving a speedboat at 300 km/h. I had never told you before, but for a few laps, it was so bad that I seriously considered stopping the car,” he confesses in the media. “The only thing that helped me was to focus on my breathing while Lewis was right behind me. An important victory that I desperately needed in the fight for the world championship.”
At the time, Hamilton had been deemed responsible for the incident and had received a 10-second penalty. A very light sentence, but one that had been justified by the FIA after recreating the scene on a simulator with the help of Sergio Pérez and Alexander Albon.
Even though the story seems to have come to an end for the British driver, Max Verstappen, on the contrary, will now have to face the inevitable consequences of the accident.
