Newey says Verstappen suffered "nasty concussion" after Silverstone crash
F1 News
Adrian Newey has revealed Max Verstappen suffered from concussion after his crash at Silverstone during the 2021 Formula 1 season. This comes after Verstappen revealed some vision problems due to the heavy impact. The crash ignited the 2021 World Championship battle between Red Bull and Mercedes, and Lewis Hamilton and Verstappen.
The 2021 British Grand Prix will be remembered as the race in which Hamilton and Verstappen collided on the very first lap. At Copse corner, the two title rivals collided, and the Dutchman went across the gravel and into the tyre wall at high speed. Verstappen recently admitted to having vision problems in the subsequent Grands Prix due to that crash at Silverstone.
"Since my crash at Silverstone, I had been struggling with vision problems, especially on hilly tracks or circuits with a lot of advertising signs on the side of the track," Verstappen told Red Bulletin a few months ago, who then declined to elaborate. Adrian Newey, the designer who has since left Red Bull Racing, explained a bit more on the High Performance Podcast.
Verstappen had a nasty concussion
Newey admitted that there were concerns about Verstappen within the team after the crash at Silverstone. "Max's crash at Silverstone was the last one where we thought, 'Is he ok? Is he badly hurt?' When he did come on the radio, because he was so badly winded, he was just grunting. You don't know what that means. He was very sore. He had quite nasty concussion and was very sore for a week after but he was okay."
After the incident, Verstappen went to the hospital but competed "as normal" in subsequent races. A few months later, he confessed the effects of the crash continued to impact him at the 2021 US Grand Prix. He often had blurred vision during the race but won in Austin.
This article has been created in collaboration with Ludo van Denderen
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