Damon Hill offered his opinion on the collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris in the Austrian Grand Prix
Damon Hill believes that the collision between Max Verstappen and Lando Norris at the Austrian GP was inevitable ” and “stole” an exciting climax from the fans
Verstappen and Norris collided on lap 64/71 The Red Bull driver received a 10-second time penalty, while Norris received a five-second time penalty that was insignificant. was forced to retire after contact with Verstappen at Turn 3 .
The pair had several close calls before the clash, Norris’ pace looked stronger. Verstappen eventually finished fifth while looking for new tyres.
1996 F1 champion Hill took aim at the reigning world champion’s defensive tactics and is warning Norris and others to be careful in future battles.
“The excitement built up nicely and I think we were robbed of a fantastic highlight of the race,” Hill said on Sky Sports’ F1 podcast. “And we’ll never know what the outcome would have been.
“I felt like Lando had the momentum and so Max had to… well I call it a damn defense. I’m sorry because I think Max has a reputation for not wanting to give up the lead without a massive fight.
“And well, if you know this about Max, you need to approach him very carefully. But we have these rules about how you compete. Now the question is, did he break those rules?”
Norris was convinced after the race that Verstappen was entirely to blame for the collision and admitted before the weekend’s British GP that he wouldn’t have done anything differently.
The British driver insisted after the race at the Red Bull Ring that Verstappen should have given him more space.
However, Hill questioned whether the McLaren driver could have gone further left and hit the curbs outside turn three.
“Or did Lando protect his rights as a racer a little too much to keep quiet?” Hill asked.
“Because I think he had the idea that when he turned off the car, he could have gone to the sidewalk.
“But he decided, no, I’m not moving. He said he shouldn’t change lanes and he should give me enough space and the collision happened. It was a bit inevitable, it came for a few laps.“.
