Adrian Newey Reveals Impact Of Max Verstappen's 51G Crash With Lewis Hamilton In 2021

Saajan Jogia | Sep 11, 2024

Adrian Newey / Red Bull Content Pool

Former Red Bull chief technical officer Adrian Newey revealed the effects of Max Verstappen's harrowing 51G crash at Silverstone in 2021. The incident, which occurred after a collision with Lewis Hamilton, sent Verstappen's car hurtling into the tire barriers.

Three years ago, during the opening lap of the British Grand Prix, Verstappen and Hamilton engaged in a fierce battle for the lead as they navigated the high-speed Copse corner. Their minor wheel-to-wheel contact sent Verstappen flying off the track, skidding across the gravel, and crashing into the tire barrier at high speed.

Fortunately, Verstappen was physically unharmed by the crash, though he still experiences lingering effects today. Newey, whose appointment as Aston Martin's managing technical partner and shareholder was announced yesterday, provided details of what had unfolded and the event's aftermath. He said on the High Performance podcast:

"Ah I mean they're horrible they really are.

"Because I mean I think Max's one at Silverstone is the last one where we thought, is he okay,
is you know, is he badly hurt in there?

"And then when he did come on the radio because he was so badly wounded, he was just grunting and you don't know what that means."

Speaking about Verstappen's injuries and highlighting how motor racing is never going to be 100% safe, he added:

"He was very sore, he had quite a nasty concussion. He was very sore for a week after, but he was okay.

"So those sorts of accidents still can happen and do happen. You know the one at Spa in the Formula 2 race with Anthoine, yeah was horrific, and it's never going to be 100% safe."

Adrian Newey seemingly confirms Max Verstappen got a "nasty concussion" from the Silverstone 2021 crash on High Performance podcast.

"He had quite nasty concussion. He was very sore for a week after but he was OK."

Max recently said he dealt with blurred vision after the crash. pic.twitter.com/wHklWoxtqA

— Daniel Valente 🏎️ (@F1GuyDan) September 10, 2024

Hamilton was given a ten-second penalty for causing the incident but still managed to secure victory in front of his home crowd.

Despite the incident being three years old, Verstappen revealed that he was suffering from its effects even today. He said in an interview with the Red Bulletin, as reported by The Mirror:

"Since my Silverstone crash, I've been struggling with visibility problems, especially on undulating circuits or those with lots of advertising boards along the side of the track.

"In this race, I wasn't just battling against Lewis, but also against blurry images. It was like driving a speedboat at 300 km/h!

"I've never told you this before, but for a few laps it was so bad that I seriously considered turning the car off.

"The only thing that helped was concentrating on my breathing while Lewis was breathing down my neck.

"An important victory that I desperately needed in the fight for the world championship."