2021 British Grand Prix (Hamilton vs Verstappen Clash)

Lore & Background

On the first lap of the race, championship rivals Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton collided going into Copse corner, which took Verstappen out of the race. Hamilton earned a ten-second time penalty for causing the collision but recovered to win the race from Charles Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas, achieving an eighth British Grand Prix win.

In Their Own Story

The roar of the engines at Silverstone was deafening, but inside Max Verstappen's cockpit, the world narrowed down to the tarmac ahead. He had beaten Lewis Hamilton to pole, a rare feat against the seven-time champion on home soil for Mercedes. As the lights faded to green, the RB16B launched forward, nose-to-tail with the W12. Into Copse Corner, the speed was blinding. Verstappen held his line, but he felt the sudden jolt of contact from the side. The world spun. The G-forces pressed him into the seat as his car cartwheeled through the air, a blur of red and blue against the green grass. He saw the sky, then the ground rushing up, then the sky again before the chassis slammed back onto the asphalt. Silence followed for a heartbeat, broken only by the hiss of sparks from the floor. Miraculously, he was alive. As the smoke cleared from the crash site, Verstappen climbed from the cockpit, adrenaline masking any potential pain. He watched his team work frantically on the RB16B during the red flag period. Against all odds, the car was ready for the restart, a testament to the mechanics' skill as much as Max's resilience.

Reader's Guide

The weekend introduced a new sprint qualifying format: a 100 km race on Saturday that decided the grid for Sunday's main race. Three points were awarded to the winner of the sprint, two to second place, and one to third place. Max Verstappen won the sprint qualifying, giving him pole position for the race.

Did You Know?

• This was the first F1 weekend for many years with a Friday qualifying session.
• The event was the first time since the 1959 German Grand Prix that a Grand Prix meeting had consisted of more than one race for Grand Prix cars during a weekend.
• The sprint qualifying was 17 laps for this event.