Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has accused Lewis Hamilton and his Mercedes team of faking the injuries he sustained from last week’s Italian Grand Prix crash with Max Verstappen. Hamilton and Verstappen were involved in a serious accident that saw Red Bull’s car flip up and land on the Brit’s head at the Variante del Rettifilo in Monza. As a result, Hamilton was taken to hospital for precautionary checks.
Hamilton has since revealed he will be seeing a specialist before the Russian GP as his neck is getting ‘tighter and tighter’ – although it didn’t prevent him from attending New York’s glitzy Met Gala last night. The accident took place on Sunday last week when the British driver left the pit-lane on lap 26 of 52 and met Verstappen – who had dropped further back following a slow 11.1 second pit-stop.
The pair headed into Turn 1 side by side before Verstappen drove over the raised kerb on Turn 2, causing his car to fly into the air and land on top of Hamilton. Verstappen was subsequently given a three-place grid penalty and two penalty points. He also received criticism for walking away from Hamilton without checking he was ok.
However, Marko believes the narrative surrounding the crash and Verstappen is unjust. He claims Hamilton’s team have ‘put on a show’ to point the finger at the Dutchman. Speaking to the Osterreich newspaper, Marko said: ‘It was a normal racing accident. All the stories around it were pulled up by the hair by Mercedes.
‘Verstappen had already got out when Hamilton tried to go back to get out of the gravel. ‘The medical car saw that and drove on. And then a show is put on that poor Hamilton is suddenly injured.’ Despite exiting his car seemingly unharmed – Hamilton has since revealed we will see a specialist over the next few weeks ‘just to make sure’ he’s fit to race at the Russian Grand Prix.
Although some have questioned the motives behind the decision to see a specialist as he was seemingly well enough to attend the Met Gala with Janet Guzman, a model and influencer – who currently boasts 1.9million Instagram followers and manages an OnlyFans account.
Secret: The party Lewis Hamilton attended after the Gala was at an undisclosed location
Nevertheless, Hamilton said: ‘I will need to see a specialist to make sure I am good for the next race because my neck is getting tighter and tighter. ‘I have been racing a long, long time, so I am so grateful I am still here. We are taking risks and it is only when you experience something like this that you look at life and see how fragile we all are.’
The reigning world champion also admitted he was thankful for the car’s Halo – saying it saved ‘me and my neck.’ Hamilton said: ‘Thank God for the halo which saved me and saved my neck. I feel very fortunate today. ‘I don’t think I have ever been hit on the head by a car before. And it is quite a shock for me. If you look at the images, my head is really quite far forward. His rear wheel landed on the halo and the inside part of his tyre landed on my head.’
Lewis Hamilton returns to his hotel with OnlyFans model after attending the Met Gala afterpart
Ironically, Hamilton was a critic of the ‘halo’ ahead of its introduction three years ago. ‘The worst-looking modification in Formula One history,’ he said prior to its introduction in 2018. ‘I hope I am given the option of not using it because I won’t.’ Marko also acknowledged the importance of the Halo – crediting it for ensuring things ‘turned out’ ok.
‘Even if I was sceptical at first,’ he said, ‘I have to admit just like in the fire accident, the Halo was decisive in ensuring that things turned out so well.’ Nevertheless, Marko has previously referred to Hamilton as a little ‘theatrical’ – claiming he went overboard on the drama at the Dutch Grand Prix.
‘It was an incredibly tough and fair race. From the first to the last lap there was a hard fight,’ Red Bull’s chief said. ‘I have to compliment not only the Dutch, but also Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton. How they behaved – that’s how a race should go.
‘Hamilton tends to be a bit theatrical. However, we were also watching Mercedes’ tyres closely and saw that it became critical with [Valtteri] Bottas at the end. On the whole, it was right.
‘We thought after the second stop we could go through with the hard tyres without any problems. Hamilton then attacked strongly, which Max parried. Then it was just a matter of driving the race home.’
Fernando Alonso also hinted at Hamilton’s theatrics – saying the Monza crash was ‘not a big deal’ and that it was an ‘unfortunate’ racing incident. He also said that crash did not compare to the extremity of their British Grand Prix clash. Alonso said: ‘Well they are there, the two champions, and they are always fighting to the limit. ‘It looks like an unfortunate position, with the corner and the kerb the car jumps a little, and then they touch. Tyre with tyre, and the rubber makes a car fly.
Lewis Hamilton and OnlyFans model Janet Guzman
‘But it is low speed, you know, they go at 30 or 40 km/h, there is no danger, there is nothing. ‘So I don’t think it was a big deal. At Silverstone it probably was, but this one it was just a racing incident. ‘I think Lewis tried to open up at Turn 1 to force Max to cut the corner. Max did not cut the corner, he stayed on the outside, but then it was not possible to do Turn 2 on the inside. ‘I think they both… they both did what they had to do.
‘You know, and unfortunately, they touched, because… I saw the replay of the start too, and (Antonio) Giovinazzi and (Charles) Leclerc, they touched, in the same way, and (Lance) Stroll and (Sergio) Perez touched each other in the same way in turn 1 and 2.
‘But they did not touch wheel to wheel, but tyre to tyre. So the same did not happen. But it is a very typical manoeuvre [in] Turn 1, Turn 2, and they have been unlucky [to] touch wheel to wheel.’
