Red flag allowed Hamilton to avoid DNF: 'Damage where we had the contact'

The Mercedes camp have been insisting from the moment of the crash that Lewis Hamilton is not to blame, when their driver went on the inside of Max Verstappen towards Copse Corner. The Briton himself let it be known on the on-board radio that he wasn't in the wrong and that was what Toto Wolff said after the race. Trackside engineer Andrew Shovlin also believes that Hamilton wasn't in the wrong wrong on the first lap.

"We didn’t think the penalty was deserved, if you look at the guide that the stewards have to determine who’s at fault in terms of overtaking, Lewis was sufficiently alongside and we felt Max should have given him room," Shovlin explained to Motorsportweek.

Hamilton avoids DNF

The Mercedes engineer reveals that Hamilton would have been very close to being out of the race as well. "We’d failed the rim, where we’d had the contact on the front left, so that would have been a DNF had it not been red-flagged," explains Shovlin. "But the rest of the damage was remarkably little – it was a tyre temperature sensor that had got knocked loose so was waggling around."

Shovlin believes Verstappen should have been more cautious going into the opening stages. "If you look at the sprint race and the opening lap Lewis was constantly having to back out of it to avoid a collision and he was able to put his car into a position where he could stand his ground. Max drives aggressively and it’s inevitable that one day we’re going to get an accident" Shovlin concluded.