Did Lewis Hamilton's Silverstone Penalty fit the Crime?

Following the 2021 British Grand Prix, there was only one story in town – Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen finally making contact, and with it, creating enormous consequences for the Formula One championship. The two stars of the sport have battled hard throughout the season, with both performing overtakes in terrific wheel-to-wheel racing. It was only a matter of time before it all ended in tears.

Despite Hamilton being given a 10-second penalty, the Brit still took the win. His victory led to many onlookers questioning whether the stewards were too lenient, while, meanwhile others have suggested no investigation was necessary. It's a murky situation where you'll anger one camp of fans no matter your viewpoint. So, let's see which camp's wrath I will feel with my stance on the subject.

Before I delve too deep, I'll be upfront and say I'm British and cheered Hamilton on his way to that first championship in 2008. However, seven titles in, and I'm as desperate as anyone to see somebody else claim the crown of World Drivers' Champion. That could be Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc, Lando Norris, Daniel Ricciardo, or anyone as I've turned into a true neutral where I'm only here to watch close racing. But I still want clean and fair racing, and if Hamilton takes title number eight on merit, I won't complain. Just give me a season of entertaining Sundays.

With those caveats drawn, my view is that the stewards made a mostly correct call here, but there is a deeper problem they cannot address during a race, but more on that later. The arguments thrown from the super-super Max fans to blessed #TeamLH supporters are too extreme for me to agree with either side. The bias each group has is evident, and I believe both sides would argue as strongly in the other direction should Hamilton and Verstappen's roles be reversed.

The Red Bull response was predictably over the top, particularly from Helmut Marko. Asking for black flags and race bans is as ridiculous as promoting a driver to Red Bull only to drop him one year later. Who would do such a thing...? Equally absurd are the suggestions that Hamilton tried to kill Verstappen with the move as if there was an element of malice involved. If the Mercedes steered left into the right-hand Copse corner at 200mph then, yes, I'd agree. Hamilton was undeniably over-ambitious, but that does not equate to homicidal hostility.

Those thoughts do not mean I believe that the defending champion is absolved of all blame, though. It is possible to overtake into Copse, as Hamilton proved later in that very same race. Yet doing so with a full tank of fuel on tires with only half a lap of heat through them is never going to end well. Not for the first time, we saw Lewis go a little manic in front of the Silverstone crowd. The Brit has a prior record in going more gung ho than usual in his home race to clinch a win. As such, and not for the first time, Hamilton had to mount a comeback after a first-lap British Grand Prix incident.