BUDAPEST (Reuters) – Red Bull’s triple world champion Max Verstappen said on Thursday he raced with blurred vision in 2021 after a British Grand Prix collision with title rival Lewis Hamilton but the issue no longer troubled him.
The Dutch driver was quoted last week in the team’s Red Bulletin as saying he struggled with visibility problems for several races as he battled Mercedes driver Hamilton for the title.
The news came as a surprise and also raised some safety concerns.
“I’ve never said this before, but it was so bad for a few laps that I seriously considered turning the car off,” he said of that season’s U.S. Grand Prix. The eye-catching quote was subsequently removed.
On Thursday at the Hungarian Grand Prix he told reporters that it was only in 2021.
“After that it went away. I mean, it did occur back then,” said the Dutch driver.
Asked if it occurred directly following the Silverstone clash, with Verstappen taken to hospital for checks after hitting the wall at speed in a big moment of the campaign, he replied: “It didn’t happen before.
“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.
“It got cured, luckily. I don’t want to go into detail, no one needs to know.”
Verstappen is 84 points clear in the 2024 championship, with 12 of 24 races remaining, and heading for his fourth successive crown.
The Dutch driver has won seven races this year but has a battle on his hands in Hungary with Mercedes chasing their third win in a row and McLaren also looking strong.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin, editing by Ken Ferris)
