Championship leader Max Verstappen was involved in a sickening crash with arch-rival Lewis Hamilton during this morning's Italian Grand Prix, which was won by Australia's Daniel Ricciardo.
As both Hamilton and Verstappen fought for position midway through the race, their cars came together in a move that could have seriously injured Hamilton. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff went as far as describing it as "a tactical foul" by Verstappen.
"The stewards will decide who is to blame," Wolff said. "In football you would call it a tactical foul. He knew that if Lewis stays ahead, then that is the race win.
The stewards did decide, judging that Verstappen "was predominantly to blame for the collision." They gave the Red Bull driver a three-place grid drop for the start of the next race, the Russian GP on September 26.
"I'm proud of the stewards," Hamilton said after learning of their decision. "I need some time to really reflect on it but I think it definitely sets a precedent and I think it's important for us moving forwards, for the safety of the drivers that there are strict rules set in place."
During the point of contact, as Verstappen's car catapulted onto the top of the Mercedes before both slid into the gravel, the Red Bull driver was heard on team radio saying, "that's what you get when you don't leave the space."
Hamilton, who had been outspoken against the protective halo at the front of F1 car cockpits before its introduction in 2018, thinks it might have saved his life on Sunday.
"I don't think I've ever been hit on the head by a car before. It's quite a shock for me," added Hamilton, who still sounded distressed several hours after the incident. "And I've been racing a long, long time. So I'm so, so grateful that I'm still here. I feel incredibly blessed. I feel like someone was watching over me today."
Wolff went as far as to suggest Hamilton could have been killed withou
Meanwhile, Red Bull boss Christian Horner said it was unfair of his Mercedes counterpart to suggest Verstappen committed a tactical foul.
"I'm disappointed that Toto would say it would be a professional foul," Horner said. "I think it's a racing incident, and thankfully nobody was injured today.
"I think [Verstappen] earned enough to be given a bit more space to work with on the left there.
"I think you can probably argue it from both sides, so if you take a middle ground on it, you say it was a racing incident.
"But I genuinely think that you could argue Max should have bailed a bit more to the left, you can argue that Lewis should have given him more space."
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