Mika Hakkinen has weighed in with his thoughts on the controversial collision between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton after the two title rivals collided for the second time in five races at Monza. Hakkinen, a two-time F1 World Champion after winning the 1998 and 1999 titles with McLaren, has plenty of experience in fighting for championship glory. Hakkinen's title fights were with Ferrari's Michael Schumacher and, despite Schumacher's occasional controversy, Hakkinen and Schumacher never collided during their battles from 1998 to 2000. The seasoned veteran has offered his advice to Hamilton and Verstappen in his blog for Unibet. "The collision between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen was avoidable, but when two drivers are fighting for the same trophy they often end up fighting for the same piece of tarmac," he said. "The stewards decided Max was mainly at fault, giving him a grid penalty at the next race. A much bigger penalty is that Max did not win the race. To beat Lewis he must out-perform him." Reflecting on his years in F1 with Schumacher and his early career with Ayrton Senna, Hakkinen said that his approach was always different to his illustrious peers. "My old rivals Ayrton Senna and Michael Schumacher were involved in many controversial accidents, but in my opinion, it is always best to avoid the other guy and stay focused on winning," he said. "When you have contact you can never be certain what will happen. Your competitor might have a damaged car, but it can easily be your turn to suffer. There is no certainty about crashing into each other. "It is so much better to focus on staying flat out, running the best strategy and accepting that you cannot win every race. Sometimes second or third is an important result, especially when you are trying to win a World Championship." Hakkinen said he is concerned by the possibility of one of the drivers getting hurt as a result of a collision "In Silverstone, Max was lucky not to be injured following his high-speed collision with Lewis. On Sunday, we saw Lewis saved by the Halo device," added Hakkinen. "Two potentially serious accidents in [five] races is very concerning because none of us should take safety for granted. We cannot be complacent. "This year's World Championship is fantastic to watch and very close. I want to see Max and Lewis give 100 percent on every lap, but also wish to see them finish the races and stand on the podium. "Let the results decide the championship, not the number of accidents."
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