Hamilton and Verstappen involved in early collision at Silverstone

George McKay

Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton have made contact in the first lap of Silverstone

Championship leader Max Verstappen and reigning champion Lewis Hamilton have made contact on lap one of the British Grand Prix.

Drama on the opening lap at Silverstone

Verstappen and Hamilton collide at Copse

Verstappen hits the barriers. He's out of the car and has walked away #BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/mvZZyI2fkS

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 18, 2021

The contact was seemingly the fault of Hamilton, and saw Verstappen in a particularly nasty bump with the barrier, though he has luckily exited the car with no obvious injuries.

The moment of impact between Hamilton and Verstappen 👀#BritishGP 🇬🇧 #F1 pic.twitter.com/kxbV5xPYPt

— Formula 1 (@F1) July 18, 2021

The incident has caused a red flag, which means the race has stopped while debris from Verstappen’s car is cleared and the barrier is rebuilt.

The incident has left Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc at the front of the grid.

The incident is being investigated for penalties for Hamilton, though who is to blame will likely be hotly debated for some time.

“I was ahead going in there, man,” says Hamilton. “Fully alongside. It’s my line. He turned in on me. I’d given the guy space.”

Christian Horner to FIA: "Look, that corner. He was never anywhere near alongside. It was an enormous accident. That was 100% Max's corner. Full blame lies on Hamilton. Thank God he's walked away unscathed. I hope you're going to deal with it appropriately."

— Andrew Benson (@andrewbensonf1) July 18, 2021

The Red Bull camp are understandably aggrieved about the incident, and are said to be lobbying the stewards for serious penalties for Hamilton, while Mercedes are pleading the case that Hamilton was more alongside Verstappen and so less of the blame falls to him.

https://twitter.com/F1Sportss/status/1416763080764166145

Here is the top ten as it stands:

Leclerc
Hamilton
Bottas
Norris
Ricciardo
Vettel
Alonso
Sainz
Raikkonen
Ocon

Christian Horner, head of Red Bull Racing, had some stern words for Hamilton, telling Channel 4 that Hamilton was “completely out of order to stick a wheel up the inside”.

“Everyone who’s driven that corner knows you don’t stick a wheel up the inside at Copse. He’s put him in the fence. Thank god he’s not been hurt. It was a desperate move,” he adds.

“You do not stick a wheel up at Copse, one of the fastest corners in the world. That’s just dirty driving. It’s now with stewards and we hope they deal with it appropriately.”

Hamilton has been handed a ten second penalty for the incident.