NEWLY-RELEASED dash-cam footage shows just how serious Lewis Hamilton’s smash with Max Verstappen at Sunday’s Italian GP could have been.
The F1 icons collided as the Dutchman attempted an overtake into the Turn 1 chicane and it resulted in him almost running over the Brit’s head.
Verstappen received a three place grid penalty as a result.
And only the halo safety system on Hamilton’s car stopped the British legend from being seriously injured.
He walked away with just a headache and a sore neck but it could have been much worse.
And the newly released footage from the front of Hamilton’s car shows just how life-threatening the smash could have been.
The video was posted on F1’s Twitter account, was watched more than 200,000 times and received more than 13,000 likes and 1,800 retweets.
Verstappen tried to pass but failed to complete the move and bounced OVER Hamilton’s car as the Mercedes driver defended his position.
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With both men out of the race, Formula One stewards waited until after the chequered flag to review the incident.
Both were called to answer questions on the crash and it was decided that Verstappen, 23, should be handed a three-place penalty for the next race’s starting grid.
Two penalty points have also been added to the Red Bull star’s licence, which was previously clean.
After reviewing the footage, stewards determined that Verstappen was never even ahead of Hamilton’s front wheel and therefore did not have the right to the racing line.
The Brit was also considered to have taken an ‘avoiding line’ to limit the chances of contact with his rival.
‘VERSTAPPEN TO BLAME’
That left them with the view that Hamilton had put his car in a ‘reasonable’ position’ and Verstappen was ‘predominantly to blame’.
The incident also saw the 36-year-old escape potentially serious injury as the Red Bull bounced off the halo device above his head.
It left Hamilton feeling ‘sore’ but both men walked away from the scene of the crash.
Hamilton was initially against the Halo’s introduction.
He said four years ago: “It definitely doesn’t look good; we know that.
“I think we are moving towards a closed cockpit. The things that have happened with drivers being hit on the head, it is kind of crazy that today we are still vulnerable.
“Our head is the most precious part of our body; it is exposed. I definitely don’t argue against it.”
‘GRATEFUL TO BE HERE’
But four years on, superstar Hamilton said after Sunday’s crash: “I am so grateful I am still here. I feel incredibly blessed that someone was watching over me today.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been hit on the head by a car before – and it is quite a big shock for me.
“We are taking risks and it’s only when you experience something like that that you get the real shock of how you look at life and how fragile we all are.”
Verstappen had played down his role in the collision before seeing the stewards.
He declared: “These things happen. We are all professional enough to get on with it and keep on racing each other.
“But I did not expect him to keep on squeezing, squeezing, squeezing. He did not even need to.
“If he would have left me a car width we would have raced out of Turn 2 and he would have probably would have stayed in front anyway.
“He kept on pushing me wider and wider and at one point there was nowhere to go and he pushed me onto the sausage kerb and that is why we touched, because the rear tyre bumped up to his tyre.”
Following the last of a triple-header of races in Italy, F1 now heads to Sochi for the Russian GP on September 26.
Verstappen increased his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to five points after finishing second in Saturday’s sprint qualifying.
Hamilton said: “I made sure I left a car’s width on the outside for him. I went into Turn 1 and I was ahead and was ahead going into Turn 2, then all of a sudden he was on top of me.”
Sir Jackie Stewart has since slammed Verstappen for not checking on Hamilton as the Dutchman walked away from the crash.
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Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk
