Lewis Hamilton reiterated that he wasn't aware that Max Verstappen had been taken to hospital while he was celebrating his British GP victory, and it doesn't look as though his post-race call to the Dutchman helped matters. Verstappen let it be known during Thursday's press conference that the celebrations after the race were disrespectful. While Hamilton revealed he called the Red Bull driver to state that the respect between the two remains, it doesn't seem as though those sentiments were reciprocated. "There's not a huge amount to add really," Hamilton told RacingNews365.com and other members of the media. "As I said at the last race, I saw on the screen that he got out the car and he looked okay and then I was told that he was fine. "So I wasn't aware until the media press conference afterwards that he had visited the hospital, and none of us ever want to see another driver injured or in harm's way, or put a driver in harm's way. "But our focus is solely on this weekend. I did give Max a call after race to just check if he was okay and let him know that the respect is still there, but obviously it’s perhaps not reciprocated but that’s okay." Verstappen's lead in the Drivers' Championship has been cut to just eight points, and while Hamilton is pleased with how his Mercedes car performed at Silverstone, he still believes Red Bull are the team to beat. "A lot of amazing work went on and firstly we just have to really lift up the guys, the whole team, back at the factory working constantly to improve our car," Hamilton added. "The step that we brought in terms of the improvements was amplified by the work to support that. "I still think that they're slightly ahead. We definitely didn't bring the gap upgrade that you've seen in some of the other races before that. So in places like here, there's potential that they still have the upper hand. "I think we can still give them a hard time in terms of sticking with them. So we still have work to do to really either pull level with them or pull ahead."
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