Sir Jackie Stewart says Max Verstappen would have been KILLED in Lewis Hamilton F1 crash ‘if it was back in my day’

SIR JACKIE STEWART reckons Max Verstappen would have been killed if his Silverstone crash with Lewis Hamilton had happened in his day.

Verstappen was taken out by the Brit in a 180mph accident that thumped him into the barriers, with the impact g-force measured at 51g.

The Dutchman was flown to hospital for an MRI and CT scans but later released the following night.

But three time world champion Stewart expressed a concern at “liberties that are being taken” by drivers.

He said: “Lewis’ incident with Verstappen was very disturbing for me.

“Frankly, if that had been in my day and well after my day, Verstappen would’ve been killed.

“The race track has been made so safe, the run-off areas so big, and the structures that he [Verstappen] finally came to a stop on, and even then the g-forces were enormous.

“I think that was a great example of what Silverstone have done to make the track safer.

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“However, people are taking more liberties today than they were before because the penalties are not so large, now it’s so safe that I think people are taking too many chances.

“The early laps at Silverstone was a good example of that because I think both drivers were overdriving, particularly when you think about it being only the beginning of the race.

“We’ve got to readdress that and sadly it sometimes takes a big, big action or even a life to make that come to real understanding.”

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Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk