Lewis Hamilton managed to battle back and take the British GP after coming together with Max Verstappen on Lap 1, however Mercedes boss Toto Wolff believes the 10-second penalty that was handed to the Briton was the wrong call. After some hard racing over the course of the opening nine races, the two championship rivals finally came together at Silverstone. Hamilton tagged the right rear of Verstappen at Copse, sending the Red Bull driver into the wall after a 51G impact with the wall. The Mercedes driver was penalised over the incident, however Wolff doesn't think it was necessary. "Everyone is entitled to their opinion and you have to respect it," Wolff told ORF. "The first half lap was hard, but Lewis was beyond the centre of the car. Then the corner belongs to him. That is just a rule and you can read it, there are even drawings of it. If you dive into it together, there may only be one driver left. "The stewards handed out a penalty and we have to accept that. I think if you look at the rules the penalty wasn't justified. I think the 10 seconds was because the race committee felt they both made a mistake or had a part in the crash. That's ok, I respect that. "Lewis is someone who doesn't drive aggressively and drive others off the track. He has shown that in the past as well." Verstappen was taken to a local hospital to check on his condition, though he escaped the ordeal with no major injuries. "Yes, that's the most important thing in this situation," Wolff added. "We saw two drivers fighting for ever centimetre. It looks ugly, but that's part of racing. It's hard, that's all I can say about it." Nevertheless Red Bull are fuming over the ordeal, with Christian Horner and Helmut Marko making their displeasure known. Wolff believes the matter is already closed. "The penalty has been handed out, but we'll see," Wolff concluded. "I think it is clear and we can close the book."
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