Max Verstappen was left in ‘discomfort’ following the British Grand Prix after an unseen incident occurred during the race at Silverstone, it has been reported.
The Red Bull driver, who currently leads the Drivers’ Championship, crossed the line in second place behind winner Lewis Hamilton.
The Dutchman overtook Lando Norris in the closing laps, having carried a pace advantage on his hard tyres compared to Norris’ soft set.
Verstappen’s race appeared to have little drama attached, with the driver himself making several pit stop timing calls that ultimately propelled him further up the order despite the Red Bull car appearing to be slower than the Mercedes and McLaren.
However, there was one incident that wasn’t caught by the TV cameras at Silverstone.
Daily Mirror reporter Daniel Moxon posted to Twitter that Verstappen appeared to be feeling ‘discomfort’ in his right hand – and told members of the press that he was struck by a stone during the Grand Prix.
The incident will have likely been caused by flying gravel, with Silverstone one of many tracks to have increased the amount of gravel across the edge of the track in order to combat a growing number of track limit violations.
Other drivers have suffered similar misfortune in the past, with Haas driver Roman Grosjean struck by a piece of gravel during the Eifel Grand Prix in 2020.
Later in the season, AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly also suffered an injured finger due to gravel in a practice session.
The presence of the halo means the occurrences of objects hitting the driver’s cockpit are now fortunately rare.
Back in 2009, before the introduction of the halo, Felipe Massa suffered a serious head injury after being struck by a loose spring from the car of Rubens Barrichello at the Hungarian Grand Prix.
The Brazilian missed the rest of the 2009 season before returning to action at the beginning of 2010.
