Silverstone (United Kingdom) (AFP)

And now?

The spectacular crash at the British Grand Prix brings the rivalry between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton to a more muscular dimension than ever on the road to the Formula 1 world title.

"It takes two to tango": the manager of the Mercedes team has evacuated the controversy concerning his colt Hamilton, however judged by the race management "mainly responsible" for the collision at high speed which sent his rival in the scenery.

If Toto Wolff allowed himself the expression, it was because Verstappen was fine.

Released from the hospital in the evening, the Dutchman reassured everyone: nothing broken ... Except the respectful relationship between the two champions.

For Verstappen, Hamilton was "dangerous" in his riding, "disrespectful and unsportsmanlike" in his celebrations.

For the Briton, his competitor is "one of the most aggressive drivers".

- Experience against ardor -

Who is at fault?

Everyone will have their opinion on the accident at more than 300 km / h.

On one side of the ring, a seven-time world champion, the most beautiful record in Formula 1: "King Lewis".

On the other, the Batavian prodigy, the youngest pilot and winner of the discipline: "Mad Max".

Experience against ardor.

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And if Verstappen has been in F1 since 2015, their rivalry is only just beginning.

Because this time, both play in the same category.

One with a previously unrivaled Mercedes.

The other with a Red Bull now among the heavyweights.

"The greatest rider of all time fights with a machine that may not be as good as the other, driven by a rising star who is trying to make his way," Wolff summed up.

"They collided, but we've seen that before with all the great rivalries in history."

With ten races out of 23, the future will tell whether this season is indeed one of the great vintages of F1, alongside the Prost-Senna or Mansell-Piquet duels.

Looking back, it all started in the first round in Bahrain.

The Dutchman, back in the last laps on the Briton, ended up overtaking him, but going out of bounds.

He gave up his place, without flinching.

In Imola, in the first lap, Verstappen started 3rd, overtook Hamilton on the first turn.

On a regular basis.

In Portugal as in Spain, Verstappen did it again, but Hamilton, after procrastinating, ended up coming back to emerge victorious in the Iberian fortnight.

There followed a huge slump for Mercedes, with five failures (Monaco, Azerbaijan, France, Styria and Austria) for five Red Bull victories - including four for Verstappen.

- Vertiginous -

A solid leader with a 32-point lead, Verstappen arrived in England to take Fortress Silverstone.

But in front of more than 140,000 spectators, including Tom Cruise and Harrison Ford, Sir Lewis could not let the victory slip away, especially at the finish line renamed "Hamilton" in his honor.

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So when the fires went out, the two flew away with the same determination.

At each of the turns, they narrowly avoided the impact in a vertiginous broom ... until that of Copse, where none agreed to give way.

"Max has been very aggressive this year and most of the time I had to give in to avoid mishaps. (...) But once he's in the lead he's too fast, so when an opportunity arises present, I must seize it, "noted Hamilton, whose penalty of ten seconds received did not prevent him from overtaking Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) at the end of the race.

Between the two team bosses, Toto Wolff and Christian Horner, as between the fans on social networks, the rivalry is also exacerbated.

But limits were exceeded: that of respect, towards Verstappen, of which certain "supporters" were delighted by the accident and the passage to the hospital;

and that of racism, towards Hamilton, the only black F1 driver.

Words denounced unanimously.

"Although the rivalry is intense on the circuit, very strong emotions should never cross the line of racist slurs," said Horner.

In the race, the duel resumes in Hungary on August 1.

© 2021 AFP