Quote:
Originally Posted by Blindside_137
This Christmas ad should tell you all you need to know.
Tf were they thinking
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Robbed this, robbed that... Deserved this, deserved that... Actually, from hindsight, the only F1 driver who was truly repeatedly 'robbed' of WDC points in 2021, was Valtteri Bottas. By his own team. To 'donate' those to his team mate Hamilton in distress for WDC points to attempt to stop an unstoppable force. And still all of that WDC points 'hustling' was insufficient for securing the 2021 WDC.
No matter the zillion interpretations of the Silverstone 2021 crash and its aftermath, IMHO that race was pivotal for many years to come: Verstappen will never forget the liberties taken by Hamilton and Mercedes at Silverstone 2021 at his expense (and that's more than about the crash itself). Very likely, from Verstappen's perspective, it's some kind of collosal moral debt that will take Mercedes years to settle. Unfinished business.
Rumor has it that, because of what happened at Silverstone 2021, Verstappen has decided, as a matter of principle, to never join Mercedes (or, likely, at least as long as Toto Wolff is in charge of Mercedes F1). There was the rumor that, back in Spring 2021, Wolff has tried to sign Verstappen for Mercedes, but no deal materialized. The Verstappen negotiations must have frustrated Hamilton as it delayed his negotiations for a potential new contract at Mercedes later than ever before, including the risk of Verstappen taking his seat. Wolff and Verstappen used to have a good relationship. But at Silverstone 2021, those days irreversibly ended. There must have been some teeth-gnashing at camp Mercedes when Verstappen won the very first 'Sprint' race ever, on Saturday. Verstappen was given laurels and, together with Hamilton and Bottas, paraded on an open truck for interviews before Hamilton's home crowd. Tense atmosphere - Hamilton was supposed to be wearing those laurels at his home track. The next day Verstappen was sent with brute force into the barriers by Hamilton already in the first lap before that same crowd. A part of them cheered as
Schadenfreude. Mercedes fixed Hamilton's damaged car under the red flag. Mercedes gave team orders to Bottas to invert track positions (listen
here) to ensure - as happened several times before - that Hamilton, rather than Bottas, would win the race and get the 25 race-win points (improving his 2021 WDC chances and further boosting his race-win statistics in F1 history books). Hamilton did a victory lap with the Union Jack and also waved it during a quick walk to the grand stands. Subsequently an euphoric victory speech. In a hospital bed many miles away from track, feelings of indignation ruled and something snapped at camp Verstappen.
Verstappen's determination to send Hamilton and Mercedes home without winning even 1 single race out of 20 this season so far or of even winning one of both 'Sprint' events so far, could be a testament of this. As he proved to be capable of 'annihilating' Hamilton and Mercedes on track, he *is* now their worst nightmare, hurting them where it hurts them the most: on track, on the race podiums, in the race standings, in their wallets and in the F1 history books.
Let that sink in for a moment.
July 17, 2021 - Silverstone - First ever 'Sprint' event:
