Mercedes express regret over reaction to huge Verstappen crash

Mercedes chief communications officer Bradley Lord has voiced "regret" for how the team handled the aftermath of Max Verstappen's massive shunt after contact with Lewis Hamilton at the British Grand Prix in 2021. 

It was a significant flashpoint in one of the most contentious and controversial seasons in F1 history, with the tone and tenor of the campaign deteriorating rapidly from then on.

The two drivers came to blows multiple times across their fiercely-contested championship fight, but events that unfolded at Silverstone were by far the most severe.

What occurred on the opening lap of that race is well-trodden ground, and whilst Verstappen was able to pull himself from his stricken Red Bull after the heavy crash, he was still feeling the effects of the 51G impact months after the crash.

The Dutchman has since revealed he subsequently experienced issues with his vision and team principal Christian Horner shared that the driver was briefly knocked unconscious.

Lord explained how Mercedes relied on the word of a Red Bull team member over Verstappen's condition following the collision, which led to the Brackley-based squad taking the 27-year-old's health "a little for granted" in its public relations approach.

"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 PlanetF1.com.

“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 well-being at that point in time, regardless of our view of the incident and the rights and wrongs of it.”

How the fallout exacerbated tensions

Hamilton was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing the collision, after the stewards judged him to be predominantly, but not fully, to blame.

The seven-time F1 drivers' champion was nonetheless able to claim victory at Silverstone that day, producing a considerable points swing in the drivers' standings.

His celebrations after the chequered flag irked both Red Bull and its fanbase, and it was a key catalyst for the increasingly toxic atmosphere both in the paddock and online as that fateful season continued to unfold.

Red Bull appealed the leniency of the penalty, sending Alexander Albon out on track in the days that followed to re-enact the incident, in the hope of proving how dangerous Hamilton's move up the inside of Copse was and that he could not have made the corner at that speed.

The team ultimately failed in its right of review process, which sought to get the FIA to consider a more severe punishment for the British driver.

"We hope that this decision will mark the end of a concerted attempt by the senior management of Red Bull Racing to tarnish the good name and sporting integrity of Lewis Hamilton," read the Mercedes statement released in response.

However, Lord is introspective in how he now views the aftermath of the crash, and the fallout that followed 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,” he said.

"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."