Hamilton and Verstappen were duelling on the very first lap of the British Grand Prix when Hamilton attempted an audacious relocation down the within of the fast Copse right-hander, with he and Verstappen making contact that sent the Dutchman into the barriers.

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappens questionable contact on Lap 1 of the British Grand Prix amassed plenty of headlines in the aftermath of the race. However according to Mercedes, Hamiltons eventual triumph wouldnt have actually been possible without the resultant warning from that crash, after the seven-time champion suffered damage to his wheel rim.

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Following a warning as those barriers were fixed, Hamilton then put in a remarkable recovery drive after receiving a 10-second charge for the occurrence, capturing Charles Leclerc with two laps to go and passing for success. Mercedes exposed after the race how close Hamilton had actually been to retirement after the Verstappen contact.

” We d stopped working the rim where we d had the contact on the front-left,” stated the groups trackside engineering director Andrew Shovlin, “so that would have been a DNF had it not been red-flagged.

2021 British Grand Prix: Huge Verstappen crash after contact with champion competing Hamilton

” The remainder of the damage was actually remarkably little,” he added. “It was a tire temperature sensing unit that had actually got knocked loose, so it was waggling around, but amazingly, its the least crucial part on the front wing– and it was the only one that broke.”

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Reviewing Hamiltons success, meanwhile, Shovlin stated it had been “really good” to be able to watch the Mercedes motorist attract and ultimately pass Leclerc on Lap 50 of 52, as he praised Hamiltons efforts in taking his eighth British Grand Prix win.

” From our coordinators view in the race, who were anticipating it live, we were looking at capturing [Charles] up 2 laps to go,” said Shovlin.

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” When we believed it was on I d say was five laps into that [push] You typically see the drop on the tires, however you could just see Lewis holding this eight-tenths benefit to Charles every lap and Lewis simply wasnt dropping off and the balance was pleased.

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” And to be sincere with Lewis, you can hear it in his voice and in what hes saying on the radio; you just get this switch where he understands in his head hes going to do it today. To be honest, it was really good sitting on the pit wall just watching that final stint unfold, because it was an excellent win and a well-deserved win for Lewis.”

You generally see the drop on the tires, but you could just see Lewis holding this eight-tenths benefit to Charles every lap and Lewis simply wasnt dropping off and the balance was delighted.

That win put Hamilton simply eight points behind Verstappen in the drivers standings, with Mercedes now just four points adrift of Red Bull in the constructors.