Mercedes have admitted their regret over how they handled Max Verstappen’s huge 2021 Silverstone crash.
It proved to be one of the more memorable and controversial moments of that season’s bitter title race. Battling for the lead at Copse on the first lap of the British Grand Prix, Verstappen was on the outside of Lewis Hamilton when his Red Bull was clipped, sending him spinning off track at high speed.
The Dutchman smashed into the barrier with a huge 51G impact and was taken to hospital as a precaution, though no lasting damage was done. Hamilton was deemed to have been predominantly at fault and was given a time penalty for causing the collision, but he won the race anyway.
Christian Horner and Red Bull were left furious and requested a right of review which was dismissed. Afterwards, Mercedes issued a blunt statement accusing their rivals of “a concerted attempt to tarnish the good name and sporting integrity of Lewis Hamilton”.
The Silver Arrows were criticised in the aftermath for appearing not to show much regard for Verstappen’s welfare as he laid in a hospital bed. And, reflecting on how that incident was handled, the team’s communications chief Bradley Lord has admitted they shouldn’t have taken one Red Bull staffer at their word when it came to enquiries about the Dutchman’s condition.
“If we were to talk something we regret, I think, having taken the word of a member of the Red Bull team – and therefore taken a little for granted – Max’s condition after his shunt at Silverstone in 2021,” he told Planet F1.
“I think how we were perceived to handle that aftermath was a point at which that relationship in that season soured quite dramatically. We could have handled that in a different way that would have been more reflective of the concern we had for Max’s wellbeing at that point in time, regardless of our view of the incident and the rights and wrongs of it.
“There was that side of things, and then to have, albeit unintentionally, antagonised the relationship, and the relationship with the fan bases in quite an extreme a way as it happened. That’s probably the moment. If we could go back in time and change it, I think we would change our responses and what we did at that point in time, around that afternoon.”
That incident was one of many Lord has encountered throughout his career to date that he describes as a “big adrenaline moment”, where emotions are high and managing the situation can be difficult. Yet he remains grateful that, to date, he has never had to deal with the sort of situation which everyone in F1 dreads.
He added: “I’ve been very, very fortunate in my career not to be part of a team that’s had to manage the worst situation that you can face in F1, which is a very serious injury or fatality. Knock on wood, I very much hope never to have to do that either.”
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