F1 News

Button: 'He's angry and emotional seeing his friend and driver in the wall'

Button: 'He's angry and emotional seeing his friend and driver in the wall'

18-07-2021 19:38
46
Author profile picture

Toby McLuskie

After the race today, Jenson Button and Damon Hill explained their thoughts on the incident between Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen. With the main talking point being of the incident, the two expressed their opinions on the coming together at Copse Corner.

Too many factors on both sides

Speaking after the race on Sky Sports, analyst Button explained how although all the factors show Hamilton in the wrong, there is still an argument to both sides of the incident. Button explained that Christian Horner's comments regarding Hamilton are because of the situation that they have been put in.

"He's angry and emotional seeing his friend and driver in the wall. 51g is massive. It's a difficult one, Lewis was almost alongside him but that's not the most important part."

Drivers were side-by-side

Button went on to add that it's tough to really decide a definite answer on who was at fault, concluding with, "Max left enough room, but at that speed, it's difficult to get around the corner on the inside. He had to back out and missed judged the apex which is fair enough because he's coming at such a speed from a new angle. It's a difficult one to have a definitive answer on who was wrong. I get the penalty because he put someone in the wall but it's a tricky one."

Hill opposes Horner's opinion

Fellow Sky Sports analyst Damon Hill agreed with Button but added that Horner's comments on Hamilton's victory being "hollow" were far from true, stating that, "he scored a fantastic victory today, I don't agree with Horner how it was a hollow victory."

Hill went on to explain that Horner's comments are hard to agree with due to the similarities in incidents from today and Charles Leclerc against Sergio Perez a few weeks ago in Austria. "The problem Horner has now is what happened with Leclerc. It was a similar move, almost identical. Hamilton didn't understeer as much, but Leclerc knew he was there and had to run wide because he knew he lost the corner and couldn't turn in.

"Max knew he was there and he didn't make enough of an allowance for that perhaps. Two cars shouldn't come together. If they were young and inexperienced, you'd tell them to calm down. It was a high-risk move, Lewis has stated his intention, he's not going to let this go to win back the advantage."