Max Verstappen was "knocked out" after the Silverstone crash: Christian Horner

Red Bull Racing Team Principal Christian Horner has had a front-row seat to arguably the best championship battle in years, as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen duke it out.

Reflecting on this year's title race between two of the finest drivers in the paddock currently, two incidents stand out for him in particular. The first was the visibly violent crash suffered by Verstappen at Silverstone after making contact with Hamilton on the opening lap, and the second was when the Red Bull driver ended up on top of Hamilton's Mercedes at Monza.

Commenting on the Silverstone incident, Christian Horner told Channel 4:

“It got pretty tasty down the Wellington Straight and then, of course, the accident. It was a massive accident, 51G. [It] broke the seat, I think it knocked him out, and it was, for sure, the biggest accident of his career."

Crash at Monza "entirely different" from Silverstone: Christian Horner

Commenting on the Monza incident, Christian Horner said the crash between the two drivers was nothing more than a racing incident.

Responding to the criticism Verstappen faced at Monza for not checking up on Hamilton soon after getting out of the car, Horner said:

““I think it’s very different. Max at Silverstone hit the wall at 51G, at 160 miles per hour. [He] was knocked out, airlifted to hospital. It’s a big difference between that and the incident [at] Monza, where he could feel Lewis reversing while he’s still in the car, the engine still running. He knew Lewis was absolutely fine. Indeed, the Medical Car didn’t even see the necessity to visit the scene. So I think it was a completely different scenario."

With six races left, Christian Horner has his work cut out for him with Mercedes seemingly having the edge over Red Bull in terms of pace. If Red Bull are unable to provide Max with a car capable of winning the title, we could see heads rolling within the team.