Christan Horner’s eerie comment to Max Verstappen before Lewis Hamilton crash
Formula 1: Hamilton and Verstappen crash at 190mph
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Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had his suspicions that Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen could be heading for trouble before their tense battle at Silverstone last year. The pair ended up colliding on the first lap which first sent the Dutchman careering into the barrier, and then to hospital before Hamilton went on to win the race.
The world title battle was already heating up by the time F1’s star-studded grid headed to Silverstone in July last year.
Stakes were high all round, with Verstappen aiming to win his first Drivers’ Championship and Hamilton vying for an unprecedented eighth.
The Red Bull man took a healthy points lead into the race, and threatened to run away with the title if he notched a win on British soil.
And before anyone knew about the drama that was to come, Horner eerily expressed a mixture of excitement and concern to Verstappen before the contest got underway.
In footage from the latest season of Drive to Survive, the Red Bull boss told his star driver: “I suspect this might get a bit fruity.”
That prediction may come as no surprise given Horner’s other pre-race comments.
“Lewis is a ruthless racer,” he said.
“You don’t become a seven-time world champion without that killer instinct, he will use everything in his armoury.”
Mercedes team boss Toto Wolff delivered a similar assessment of the Silver Arrows star, claiming: “A driver needs to be a lion in the car and Lewis is a fighter.
“Even if he gets knocked down he is going to fight back and he will always wait for his moment.”
Once the race got underway, Hamilton and Verstappen were quickly embroiled in a ferocious battle for the lead, both in the knowledge that whoever came out on top would likely go on to win the race.
Having gained ground on Verstappen, the Brit attempted to make an audacious move up inside at Copse corner, causing the pair to come together which ultimately sent the Red Bull man to hospital.
Hamilton was slapped with a 10-second penalty after being deemed at fault for the crash, but still went on to win the race after overtaking Charles Leclerc in the closing stages.
The Red Bull camp were left furious at Mercedes’ raucous post-race celebrations while Verstappen was in hospital being checked out, but they would ultimately have the last laugh when the title was decided in Abu Dhabi.
Hamilton appeared to be cruising towards another Championship, before FIA race director Michael Masi shook things up behind a late safety car.
With the lapped drivers between the two title protagonists ordered to pass through, Verstappen prevailed in a blockbuster one-lap shootout, putting his name in the history books even if Masi was eventually sacked for his role in the drama.
With testing well underway ahead of the season’s curtain-raiser on March 20, it remains to be seen whether F1 fans will be treated to more timeless duels over the coming year.
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