In the infinite upheavals – emotional and of positions on the track – produced by the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, the moment of maximum tension was experienced during the 37th lap, with the incredible collision between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. For this controversial episode the Dutchman was then penalized with a 10 second penalty at the end of the race. The contact between the two contenders for the world title clearly ruined the front wing of the # 44 Mercedes, so much so that Hamilton feared that it was necessary to return to the pits to replace the entire wing. This was not the case and the seven-time world champion was able to carry on without problems to the checkered flag, taking the eighth victory of his season. At Mercedes, the Technical Director, Andrew Shovlin, however, underlined how the British’s W12 lost competitiveness due to that contact.
According to estimates by the Brackley team, the damaged wing slowed Hamilton by about 4 tenths per lap. From Germany, however, the site reporter Auto Motor und Sport Michael Schmidt highlighted during his podcast Formel Schmidt, as well as Verstappen’s car re-emerged damaged by the collision with the silver arrow. The Hasselt native would indeed have ruined your speaker in the impact. Not only that: two small cuts were also found on his left rear wheel, the one most affected by Hamilton’s ‘blow’, which in fact broke the right part of the front wing. This was due to the warnings of his track engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, who in the last phase of the race suggested the # 33 to slow down, without trying too hard for the additional point of the fastest lap.
#Germany #Verstappen #diffuser #damaged #rearend #collision #FormulaPassionit