20/09/2021
NEWS STORY
Believing that it is "very likely" that there will be further incidents involving Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, GPDA chairman, Alex Wurz intends to talk to both drivers.
While the battle for the 2021 title has all the spice the sport's power that be have been looking for, there is every indication that it could end in tears.
Following a couple of very close encounters things took a turn for the worse at Silverstone, when Verstappen was out on the opening lap following clash with his title rival.
Valtteri Bottas' over-enthusiasm in Hungary aside, the intense, almost bitter, rivalry between Hamilton and Verstappen made the headlines once again at Monza when the Briton avoided serious injury courtesy of the Halo device as the pair clashed once again causing the Red Bull to land on top of the Mercedes.
With eight races remaining, and the pair separated by just five points, it is widely expected that there will be further clashes.
Former F1 driver, Alex Wurz, now chairman of the drivers' 'union', the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, fearing that there will be further clashes, intends talking to both drivers.
"I think it's very likely, to be honest," he told Sky Sports. "Both have to mark their territory.
"That's sport," he continued, "if you watch boxing, football, handball, whatever there is, when two greats are coming together, those things happen.
"Outside the car I talk to both and they talk to each other, and they have great respect for each other, which is really nice to see. But on the other side, on the track it's, 'hey, we are here to fight, we are here to win the Formula 1 world championship'. It's one of the most prestigious titles you can have in the world of sport.
"They have to fight, it's part of the game. Hopefully with the respect they need for their own team and their own results, and not only for each other, because to finish first you have to finish, so they can't afford too many crashes.
"There will be a conversation," he admitted, when asked if he would speak to them in his capacity as GPDA chairman, "but you have to separate yourself from being in the car and making such decisions.
"They're only humans, and they were angry," he said of the Monza clash, which, like many, he believes to have been a racing incident, "both of them because of bad pit stops and how the race unfolded, and you know you only have one opportunity.
"In this case maybe to an extent both cracked under this pressure and came together."