July 18, 2021: The battle for the world championship crown between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton is becoming increasingly tense, and fans of the various camps are waiting on social media with a knife between their teeth. The worst-case scenario finally occurred at the race in Silverstone. As has only just become known, this has long-term effects on Verstappen’s health.
Max Verstappen: Silverstone accident required treatment by specialists
“Since my Silverstone crash, I’ve been struggling with visibility problems, especially on undulating tracks or those with lots of advertising boards on the side of the track,” Max Verstappen recalled in the Red Bulletin back to 2021. It was particularly bad at the US GP at the Circuit of The Americas. “In that race, I was not only fighting against Lewis, but also against blurring images.”
Like driving a speedboat at 300 km/h, according to Verstappen. Fortunately, the problems have now been cured. “That was only in 2021, after that it went away,” Max Verstappen said again in Hungary. Only in 2021 – but only since the accident in Silverstone, in which he and Lewis Hamilton touched in the ultra-fast Copse corner and Verstappen flew into the track barrier at 300 km/h.
The race ended in hospital for the Dutchman, while Lewis Hamilton celebrated his victory in front of a British crowd. “I’ll put it this way, this has never happened before!”, said Verstappen, describing the exact moment when his vision problems began. It was only after medical treatment by specialists that things improved.
Eye problem (almost) decisive in World Cup
“It was healed, fortunately. I don’t want to go into detail, nobody needs to know,” Verstappen remains tight-lipped. Only selected people at Red Bull and doctors knew about the problem at the time. Secrecy was a priority in the hot phase of the World Championship battle.
“People always have minor injuries, it happens,” says Verstappen. Nevertheless, in Austin, seven races after the accident in Silverstone, the Red Bull driver considered retiring his RB16B. “The only thing that helped was concentrating on my breathing while Lewis was breathing down my neck.” And it worked: In the end, he won the Grand Prix and the World Championship.
“It’s not something I would advise people to have while driving. But we’re racing drivers. We deal with all kinds of things,” says the 26-year-old. Sergio Perez is also currently dealing with all sorts of things in Formula 1. Yuki Tsunoda is claiming the seat next to Max Verstappen. Read more here!