Lewis Hamilton's team accused of 'faking injury' by Red Bull chief; Alonso also chimes in

Red Bull Racing advisor Helmut Marko has accused Mercedes of faking Lewis Hamilton's injuries after his Monza crash with Max Verstappen, which ended both title contenders' afternoon. The incident was also labeled "not dangerous" by two-time F1 champion Fernando Alonso, who believes the Silverstone incident was more serious than the Monza coming together.

Marko's comments came after Hamilton admitted that he will be seeing a specialist ahead of the Russian Grand Prix on Sept. 24 as his neck is getting "tighter and tighter." The Briton, however, did not show any signs of the injury as he attended the Met Gala in New York on Tuesday night and partied well into the wee hours of the morning.

Sunday's accident occurred on Lap 26 of 52 as Hamilton made his way out after his first pit stop and looked to have pipped Verstappen, who was making his way down the start-finish straight. The Mercedes driver pulled to the left to cover his title rival, but the Dutchman pulled up alongside going into Turn 1.

The duo were unwilling to give in and with Hamilton squeezing Verstappen into the kerb, the two collided. Verstappen's contact with the sausage kerb on the outside saw his car getting launched into the air and landing on the Mercedes, ending both their races. While Verstappen was out of the car in a flash, the Briton did try to get his car back out on track, before being asked to turn off the engine.

Verstappen came in for criticism for not checking if Hamilton was okay after the crash, but Marko has jumped to his defense suggesting that Mercedes have an agenda against the Dutchman. The Red Bull chief claims that Hamilton's team just "put on a show" to draw flak against his main title rival.

"It was a normal racing accident. All the stories around it were pulled up by the hair by Mercedes," Marko told Sport24Auto. "Verstappen had already got out when Hamilton tried to go back to get out of the gravel."

"The medical car saw that and drove on. And then a show is put on that poor Hamilton is suddenly injured."

Alonso, who has been involved in more than one big crash during his career, also echoed Marko's sentiment by claiming the crash was just a racing incident with "no danger" involved. The Spaniard feels the incident is being blown out of proportion as both the drivers did what they had to do, and not give up their space.

"It looks like an unfortunate position, with the corner and the kerb the car jumps a little, and then they touch. Tyre with tyre, and the rubber makes a car fly," Alonso said, as quoted by the Daily Mail.

"But it is low speed, you know, they go at 30 or 40 km/h, there is no danger, there is nothing. "So I don't think it was a big deal. At Silverstone it probably was, but this one it was just a racing incident."