Lewis Hamilton suffered a peak impact of 45G during his collision with Fernando Alonso, his Mercedes team has revealed.
Hamilton collided with Alonso while they were battling over second position on the opening lap of the Belgian Grand Prix.
Hamilton’s car was launched into the air and while he was briefly able to continue the damage to his W13 proved terminal and he stopped the car later around the lap.
“It was a large, large impact,” said Mercedes’ Strategy Director James Vowles.
“It was measured at 45 G on the SDR recorder in the car which is very big on a vertical load. He will be okay, he will be back in Zandvoort fighting.
“I think primarily for him he is frustrated, frustrated that he had a very fast race car, and a podium was possible but he, like all of us, are here to fight and continue moving forward.”
Mercedes says it is still assessing the full extent of the damage amid suggestions that Hamilton may need to incur an engine-related penalty.
“There are enough photos floating around the internet to show just how high the car was and how it landed and the impact was large,” Vowles explained.
“What we noticed almost immediately after the impact on the ground was a loss of coolant.
“You can actually see on the onboard of Alonso that coolant really just flying out towards him and then you started to see temperatures rise fairly quickly and that was the primary reason for stopping him on track.
“We need to make sure to understand the full extent of what’s required before Zandvoort.”
I don’t believe for a minute that he pulled 45g’s.
Bullsh*t. No way in hell this was a 45g crash. If so, he would have had to stop the car right after due to having the wind knocked out of him. Look at Alonso’s Melbourne 2016 accident — a legit 46g crash — he got out of the car and could barely stand. Anyone who thinks he could have continued driving (assuming his car was still drivable) is an idiot.
Even if what they say is true, and let us bear in mind these are the words of Mercedes, a team of habitual liars, it’s still fewer Gs, and far less dangerous to life and limb, than the impact Hamilton deliberately inflicted on Max Verstappen at Silverstone in 2021, hence they should shut up and stop trying to make out Hamilton is some sort of victim in the crash. Yet again he made an intentional move to try and force an opponent off the track, but, mercifully, this time he himself was the one who suffered from the collision, and it is to be hoped he will continue to be the one who suffers whenever he tries it again in the future, which he surely will, because he is a dirty driver.