Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen ‘very likely’ to crash again this season

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen are “very likely” to crash again this season as their world championship title race goes down to the wire, a leading Formula 1 drivers’ representative has warned.

Hamilton admitted he was fortunate to be alive following the pair’s horror crash at the Italian Grand Prix earlier this month, in which Verstappen’s car landed on top of Hamilton’s following a collision at Monza.

It was the second time this season the world championship rivals had collided after they came together on the opening lap of the British Grand Prix, a race Hamilton went on to win as Verstappen crashed into the wall.

The Red Bull driver holds a five-point lead over Hamilton in the drivers standings with eight races to go this season, but the Dutchman has been handed a three-place grid penalty ahead of the Russian Grand Prix this weekend for his involvement in the pair’s latest incident.

And Alex Wurst, the chairman of the Grand Prix Drivers’ Association, has warned that Hamilton and Verstappen’s competitiveness on the track means that it is unlikely their collision at Monza will be the last this season.

“I think [it’s] very likely, to be honest. Both have to mark their territory,” Wurz told Sky Sports News.

“That’s sport, 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.”

Both Hamilton and Verstappen have blamed each other for the crash while F1 bosses have warned them both to settle their championship battle on the track, rather than the steward’s room.