F1: Red Bull Planning To Use Crash Data To Get Hamilton Banned

Red Bull has already expressed its displeasure towards the penalty that was handed to Lewis Hamilton in light of his massive collision with Max Verstappen. The fact that Hamilton went on to win the race despite the penalty has fuelled a potential lawsuit that Red Bull plans to bring forth. Verstappen's lead wasn't only cut short in the world championship. There is a domino effect in the age of the cost cap as Verstappen's car took a lot of damage and potentially even his engine is a write-off. This means the new parts for Verstappen's car will eat up some of the budgets that Red Bull has been struggling to balance. It could even mean job cuts. If the engine is written off, Verstappen may need to take a grid penalty which will further hamper his world championship charge.

Christian Horner described Hamilton's move as desperate and amateurish 
Photo Credit: AFP

Martin Brundle in his Sky Sports column has revealed that Red Bull apparently has some crash data which it plans to use against Mercedes and Hamilton to get the world champion a one-race ban for the crash. Red Bull plans on appealing the penalty to the FIA as well. 

"I have been told by Red Bull that there is data that they can use to prove that Hamilton went into Copse Corner significantly faster than at any other time and that he could not have made the corner without going wide and inevitably tapping Verstappen in the end," said the former F1 driver. 

"It is likely that this data will come out. And if Red Bull think they have 'new evidence, then they can appeal to the FIA because they think Hamilton is more at fault than first thought and the punishment for the Briton was handled too leniently," he added. 

Hamilton remained quite unapologetic about the crash 

If this isn't resolved by the FIA appeal, there could be legal action as well from Red Bull. Brundle also expressed his displeasure at the way both Toto Wolff and Christian Horner, the bosses of Mercedes and Red Bull tried to influence the stewards after the crash. 

"I felt a little uncomfortable hearing the radio messages from Red Bull and Mercedes, who were trying to influence the situation by lobbying the race director. Apparently, that's how communication goes these days," he said.