Google News Mercedes knew before the celebration that Verstappen was fine
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On the eve of the celebration after winning the British Grand Prix, Mercedes knew that Max Verstappen was well, said the head of the Mercedes F1 team, Toto Wolff, after accusations by the Dutchman that it was wrong to celebrate while he was in the hospital.
Verstappen ended up in hospital on testing after a tough collision with Hamilton and drew attention with his post saying he was fine, but that Hamilton showed a lack of respect and athletic behavior by celebrating the victory while he was still in the hospital.
Wolff says the team knew Verstappen was fine and that they checked it out with the FIA ​​and Red Bull. “It’s important to know what all the feedback we had,” Wolff told Motorsport.com.
“We had all the feedback from senior management from Red Bull that Max was fine. Christian mentioned to Michael Masa [the FIA's racing director] that he was not injured and that he was fine and the FIA ​​gave us similar information.
" "So at no point would we celebrate that Max was hurt… I think that's very important to understand."
Hospital
Wolff added that Hamilton did not know that Verstappen was in the hospital until the post-race interview as the team did not want to give him more information than necessary during the race.
“Lewis asked, even in the car after the accident, if Max got out of the car,” Wolff said. "He received the answer that he got out of the car himself. The only information he got was that Max was fine and that's why Lewis didn't need to explain anything further.
" “Let’s not forget he won the race after five negative weekends. Lewis won the home race and it is clear that the emotions are strong. ” Of course, what Wolff is saying makes sense, but most still think that Hamilton's behavior was not appropriate, and that Hamilton tried to provoke Red Bull with his celebration.
Indeed, such things should not be done by any athlete and especially not a name like Hamilton. Still, maybe this will be an additional motivation for Verstappen to be even better and to show that such a thing only made him stronger.
There is still a lot left until the end of the season, and it will be exciting to follow the battle of two top drivers. We still don't know who will win, but for now Verstappen has the advantage he will try to keep.