Max Verstappen confirmed that his issues with blurred vision, a result of his crash at the 2021 British Grand Prix were confined to that year’s campaign alone.
The Dutchman suffered a 51G impact following a clash with 2021 title-rival Lewis Hamilton at Copse corner during that tense, enthralling season’s British GP at Silverstone.
Verstappen recounted how following the crash, he suffered blurred vision and even considered retiring from the 2021 United States GP at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas, saying “It was like driving a speedboat at 300kph. I’ve never mentioned this before, but for a few laps, it was so bad that I seriously considered parking the car.”
In the wake of that revelation, told on the Red Bull official website, Verstappen has sought to clarify that he no longer suffers from affected eyesight, amid speculation the issue persisted beyond the 2021 season.
“It was just in ’21,” the Dutchman revealed on the Red Bull bulletin. “After that it went away. It did occur, back then.
“It didn’t happen before [Silverstone], let’s say it like that.”
Talking further about how the blurred vision impacted his racing, Verstappen said “Well it’s not something I would advise for people to have while driving.
“We are racing drivers. You deal with all sorts of stuff. Always here and there people have like little injuries or whatever. Those things happen.”
The three-time Formula 1 World Champion went on to note how he informed “people around the team” and consulted with specialists in a bid to recover from the blurred vision.
“It got cured, luckily,” he said.
“I don’t want to go into details, no one needs to know.”
Drivers competing when fatigued, ill or injured is not uncommon in Formula 1 and wider motorsports.
In Grand Prix racing alone, two drivers in the past three seasons have driven under the influence of appendicitis, notably Alex Albon during free practice for the 2022 Italian Grand Prix at Monza, and Carlos Sainz during the opening sessions of this term’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Both drivers were taken to hospital for an appendix removal once their conditions were known, with Sainz recovering in time to win the 2024 Australian GP two weeks after surgery.
Albon, meanwhile, suffered complications during his procedure two years ago forcing him into an induced coma.
Still, the Williams driver recovered and competed in that year’s most gruelling race, the hyper-humid Singapore GP, less than a month after surgery.
I thought the blurred vision story was an excuse for crashing into his competitors…. If this is not the case, what else could it be… ? Any suggestions?