In welcoming the decision not to review the Silverstone clash, Mercedes has accused Red Bull of seeking to "tarnish" Lewis Hamilton's reputation.

Anyone hoping that tonight's decision by the FIA not to allow a review of the Silverstone incident meant that a line might be drawn under the whole sorry affair appears to be in for disappointment.

In reacting to the decision, Mercedes accused Red Bull of trying to tarnish the reputation of Lewis Hamilton.

"The Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team welcomes the decision of the stewards to reject Red Bull Racing's right of review," said the German team in a brief statement on social media.

"In addition to bringing this incident to a close, we hope that this decision will mark the end of a concerted attempt by the senior management of Red Bull Racing to tarnish the good name and sporting integrity of Lewis Hamilton, including in the documents submitted for their unsuccessful right of review.

"We now look forward to going racing this weekend and to continuing our hard-fought competition for the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship."

In their statement tonight, the FIA noted allegations that had been made by Red Bull, and though they failed to expand on what exactly the allegations were, Mercedes reaction appears to suggest that the Austrian team had sought to tarnish Hamilton personally.

"The Stewards note, with some concern, certain allegations made in the Competitor's above letter," said the stewards in their statement. "Such allegations may or may not have been relevant to the Stewards if the Petition for Review had been granted.

"The Stewards may have addressed these allegations directly in any decision that would have followed. The Petition having been dismissed, the Stewards make no comments on those allegations."

Even before Silverstone, Red Bull and Mercedes had been engaged in a war of words on all manner of issues, and it would appear that the Copse clash has merely added gasoline to an already smouldering fire.

Sections of the media, sensing the possibility of a Prost/Senna style scenario are already chomping at the bit, and it was noticeable that at today's press conference a number of questions - especially from journos that don't usually even cover the sport - were particularly incendiary.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by ChickenFarmerF1, 30/07/2021 17:13

"If you read the statement from Stewards, it basically says "You've said some really bad/stupid things that we WOULD have responded to, and not in a way you (RBR) would like. Shut up now before things get (more) out of hand." And the Mercedes response is basically PR speak for "Helmut/Christian - Go do something anatomically impossible."

Before this I was a mild Hamilton fan. A few years ago I was a pretty strong Hamilton fan. He's done a lot over the last couple years to make me like him substantially less. If this incident were really a case of "dirty driving" or intentional crashing I'd be totally done with him. But it's not. I had been slowly warming to Verstappen as he seems to be maturing a bit. Still wasn't particularly a fan, per se, but some of his childishness had been abraded off, and he's turning into a more respectable fellow. But for as long as he's a Red Bull driver I can't support him after this sorry episode.

If RBR had said that Hamilton was just overly aggressive, made an unwise passing attempt, simply screwed up, or some variation on the theme, and perhaps said that a stiffer penalty should have been handed out and then dropped it they would have won over some people like me. But this idiotic pursuit of a claim that Hamilton crashed Verstappen intentionally tells me RBR isn't learning from the past, or maturing as an organization at all. If anything they're regressing. The stunt with having Albon (an objectively worse driver), in an RB15 (an objectively worse car), on filming day tires (objectively worse than racing spec tires), on a day with totally different conditions, try to demonstrate that Hamilton couldn't have made the corner given his line and speed is so absurd that they should be mocked over this for years to come.

I hope they drop this whole topic now. If this keeps going the FIA should sanction them for bringing the sport into disrepute. And if that fine caused them to exceed the cost cap, then they should be punished for exceeding the cost cap as well."

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2. Posted by mickl, 30/07/2021 11:17

"Everytime I now see verstappen or someone from RBR onscreen. All I hear is "Awwww Didums"

@aroutis I mean how well built is the Mercedes and how good a driver is Hamilton that he is confident that he can run someone off at 160mph and be certain that he won't be smeared into the wall as well. I mean, that would make him and the car the greatest that's even been. I mean Schumacher only attempted it at 30mph and even then he was only 50% successful."

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3. Posted by itc, 30/07/2021 10:11

"Racing incident at Silverstone, no more no less.
Watching Hungary interviews live at home in Sydney.
If I mute the TV, I can still hear the whining."

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4. Posted by Motorsport-fan, 30/07/2021 9:17

"Once you resort to personal attacks, you have lost the case."

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5. Posted by VC10-1103, 30/07/2021 8:17

"@aroutis - Whilst I am no fan Hamilton there is no way he can be bracketed with Schumacher for controversial tactics."

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6. Posted by ronniecabers, 30/07/2021 8:08

"@aroutis .. Ok so you know exactly what LH was thinking?, you know 100%that he deliberatly drove into MV LOL. If its that obvious then the stewards would know that too. As for saying hes done it before ( Twice as you mention where contact has been made ) , he'll do it again , well yes, hes a racer , just like Max will turn in to a corner , just like Max will weave ( done many a time and other drivers have had to react ) and be a ' hard ' racer. Both LH and MV are ' hard ' racers. This crash was pretty inevitable to be honest , as the teams developed the car they were always going to be running closer and the risk greater
Please ebar in mind the stewards deemed LH ' PREDOMINATLY ' responsible , so some blame most have been elsewhere ( i'm can only GUESS Max but don't know for certain as i;m not privy to all the information. My take Lewis went in hot , had oversteer and wham, MAX could have left more room but in the heat of the momemnt that is a split second decision.
What I cant get my head round is all the whinging and whining of Helmut and Christian. No new eveidence was brought to the table ...some sort of accusation was made, which clearly the FIA stewards aren't going to reveal as I'm guessing it is inflammatory and could potentially hurt F1 for whatever reason ( i'm not even going to speculate what it is as I have no clue but it strikes of desperation.
As for the penalty , 10 seconds was the penalty , do i agree , yes , do i agree about being able to repair car under red flag , no ,either do it in the race time , or back of the restart grid, or continue with damage
Does the penalty fit the crime ( well racing incident in my hnest opinion) ...well take out the fact that MAX hit the wall and his race was over ... if Max had just left the track and rejoined no one would be moaning, this all comes down to the fact it was a fast corner and he went out of the race and hit the wall ( and luckily was ok ) . There have been plenty of incidents ( over the 30 odd years i've been watching F1 ) that have been race ending where it has either been deemed a racing incident or a 10 second penalty, the teams decided that penatlies were to be dealt with without taking into consequence or positioning within constructors/drivers championships. Helmut and Christian knew this, Red Bull would have agreed to this , so to call for a ' race ban ' is absolutley ridiculous...yes if LH did it 3 or 4 times in a season then I'd be questioning his a ban would be needed as happened to Grosjean. This is why they have Penalty points, 12 points and then its a ban

Neither LH or MV are ' dirty ' drivers , they are both ' hard ' focused on winning drivers so I expect another clash at some point. The end of the day they are racing to win , providing a spectacle for us to watch, it wasn't that long ago we were all complaining it was processional and no overtaking, well a gap was seen LH went to take it ( too fast , with oversteer IMHO ) , an overtake was attempted ...isn't this what we want to see ( and yes I know we don't want to see drivers going to hospital ) .... was the celebration disrespectful , no I don't think so , Max was Ok , just bruising , he walked away from the crash ( due to fantastic safety measures ). I would have expected any winning driver to have reacted the same way . I 'm sure if Max's condition had been more serious than Mercedes would have said something ( as any responsible team would do )"

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7. Posted by aroutis, 30/07/2021 5:53

"@gt3bill
In case it has not yet registered to you, after this incident and especially after what LH has said, he is now at the pantheon of dirty drivers.
He knew what he did, he did it on purpose and because he knew that if he did not win this race his championship would be in trouble,
He has done this again two times with Albon, pretty much the same way,
and in his words, he shall do it again.

This is a dirty driver. Plain and simple. Worse than Schumacher."

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8. Posted by kenji, 30/07/2021 4:27

"@GT3bill....Thank you for your comments. Your erudition and literary comprehension is beyond superb. Let me just say that for your own peace of mind [ ? ] stay with the event upon which we are commenting. The only relevance to the past is where the stewards look for precedents as a guide to their decision making. The same approach as practiced by most of the legal profession. We are dealing with a singular incidence for which the one offending driver was penalised. Finally, I posed a couple of questions, both of which you chose to ignore...you might care to respond....without the froth and bubble. Enjoy Hungary....despite your distaste of all things Verstappen."

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9. Posted by gt3bill, 30/07/2021 1:58 (moderated by an Adminstrator, 30/07/2021 8:23)

"This comment was removed by an administrator as it was judged to have broken the site's posting rules and etiquette."

Rating: Negative (-1)

10. Posted by kenji, 30/07/2021 0:54

"If we look at the basic points arising out of this rather unpleasant episode we see that Hamilton has publically stated that, ' I would do it exactly the same way' meaning that he has learnt nothing and does not accept or respect the stewards decisions. Secondly he also states publically that whilst he was celebrating 'I wasn't aware' [of Verstappens being taken to hospital or his condition. Who is telling the truth here? Wolff said he knew. Is it safe to assume that he didn't tell Hamilton? That Hamilton never inquired? Many conflicting interpretations which would, by simple extrapolation, indicate that Red Bull's assertions are not totally misplaced. Will Hungary host payback time?"

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