Lewis Hamilton Had Halo To Thank After Max Verstappen's Red Bull Lands On Top Of His Mercedes

Lewis Hamilton would have been left thanking the Halo safety feature on his car, after he and Max Verstappen took each other out of the Monza Grand Prix.

Hamilton and Verstappen are in the middle of a very fierce battle to win this season's Formula One Driver's World Championship and have clashed on a couple of occasions.

Things really heated up at the British Grand Prix earlier this year, when Hamilton was accused of taking out his Dutch rival and then being disrespectful for celebrating the win, whilst Verstappen was in hospital.

On Sunday, the title race, and their rivalry, took another twist during the race in Monza, when the pair took each other out of the race on the 26th lap, just after Hamilton had left the pits.

The scenes were quite shocking for viewers as Verstappen's Red Bull landed on the back of Hamilton's Mercedes and he was only saved by the 'halo' that sits about the cockpit.

Verstappen went into the race on pole position, after Saturday's sprint race saw Hamilton mess up from second place to finish down in fifth.

However it was McLaren's Daniel Ricciardo who led at the first corner, managing to get a better start than the title leader, and led throughout.

Hamilton remained in fourth, with teammate Valtteri Bottas' being relegated to the back of the grid due to an engine change.

The seven time world champion was on harder tyres than the rest so stayed out longer and found himself in the lead as everyone started pitting.

Red Bull's uncharacteristically long pit stop for Verstappen meant that Hamilton would be close to his rival when his stop was done.

His team also took too long on his stop, though nowhere near as long as his rival, and when he was released onto the track Verstappen was closer than he and the team would have wanted.

The battle for the win didn't last as long as either man would have been expecting as the pair took each other out on the first corner of the lap.

It means the gap remains just five points between them in the title race, with just eight races of the season remaining.

Featured Image Credit: F1

Topics: Formula 1, Lewis Hamilton

Ryan Sidle

Ryan is a journalist for SPORTbible with over eight years of experience. Passionate about all sports, he mainly covers football and F1 - Daniel Ricciardo once spent an entire interview referring to him as 'Ryan Gosling,' still his proudest moment.

@Sidler28