At Red Bull Racing’s home race, Max Verstappen lost all chances of acquiring points after a collision with Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli left both of them out of the F1 Austrian GP. The incident occurred in Turn 3, when the Italian rookie attempted a bold move which caused a massive lock-up to his tyres. While Antonelli managed to avoid crashing into the Racing Bulls of Liam Lawson, his Mercedes hit the side of Verstappen’s. As a result, both drivers spun out of the track. Fortunately, nobody was hurt and they safely got out of the cars.
This race meant a lot for Verstappen in terms of retaining his world championship title. After the McLaren incident in Canada, where both papaya drivers collided and Norris’ race ended with a DNF, things were seemingly looking up in the standings. Yet, this first lap collision around the Red Bull Ring marked his first DNF since Australia 2024. From Kimi Antonelli’s side, the Italian started his race ninth, and he was trying to make up for his unlucky qualifying. Losing total control of the car, Antonelli’s front wing clipped the rear axle of the Red Bull.
Max Verstappen’s point of view
Holding a record for 5 wins at the F1 Austrian GP, Verstappen surely did not expect this incident with Antonelli. The Dutchman started the race in P7 after a weekend full of struggles with his Red Bull. Reflecting on his whole weekend as a whole, Max Verstappen shared with utter disappointment his team’s GP turnaround. Moreover, the driver explained the damage to his RB21 as a result of the collision.
“Yeah, well, I mean, we had a good start. So that was, I think, already a nice improvement from the last two races, where I was not particularly happy with the start. But, yeah, and then, I mean, in turn three, the race was over. Of course, at that point, I didn’t know what happened. But we had quite a bit of damage, and the car nearly turned off.
“So, I guess unlucky a little bit yesterday in qualifying and unlucky today in the race. But, of course, if you look at the weekend, we were not where we wanted to be, I guess, in terms of pace. And we have to try and analyse that and hopefully have a little bit of a more positive weekend next week.”
His first thoughts after the incident
Furthermore, Verstappen described his thought process when he first got out of the car. As could be seen on the broadcast, the Dutch appeared to be saying something to Antonelli. However, it turned out that he was just trying to figure out what exactly happened.
“No, no. I mean, I just asked what happened because he was the only car that was there with me, with his wheel hanging off. So, I was like ‘Maybe… well, I’m pretty sure that he hit me’. And, yeah, then, of course, I saw the footage once I came back. And it happens, you know.”
Despite the collision that occurred at the F1 Austrian GP, Verstappen kept a positive attitude towards Kimi Antonelli. He went on to admit the following:
“I mean, every driver has made a mistake like that. Everyone has made a mistake like that in their careers. Also, Kimi [Antonelli] is a very big talent. So, he learns from that, you know, and that’s all fine.”
Talking it out with the Italian
The Dutchman had quite a short answer when discussing positives: “At the moment, not so much. Yeah, just need to have a look at everything that we did.”
Nevertheless, Verstappen spoke about the conversation he had with Antonelli after the events of the Austrian GP had settled down slightly.
“I spoke to him [Antonelli] already. But that’s, I mean, of course, very nice. For me, it was already a case closed anyway. I saw what happened. No one does these things on their purpose. It can happen.”
However, the Red Bull driver holds this track close to his heart. With fans coming from all over the world to see him, Verstappen cannot help but be frustrated for missing out:
“Yeah, I mean, of course, it’s not what you want. At the end of the day, I’m the most disappointed about it. But at the end of the day, that’s racing as well, you know. We’ve had a lot of great moments here. So, probably, we got a little bit spoiled with that as well at the same time. So, sometimes, that’s the case.”
Antonelli’s part in the collision
The Italian rookie is in his first season with Mercedes after taking Lewis Hamilton’s spot. His lack of experience makes him susceptible to more mistakes. While Antonelli explained his side of the incident with Verstappen during the first F1 Austrian GP lap, he showcased the inevitable situation he was under:
“I didn’t necessarily brake too late, but it’s just that when I braked, obviously I braked hard because I was behind other cars, and in the moment I locked the rears. And then I just couldn’t stop the car because I locked the rear and just lost the car. Then I had to avoid Lawson.
“But it was too late because I was arriving just too quick. Because I started to lock the front, and instead of decelerating, I was accelerating. So, the car was just taking speed and the crash was inevitable. And, yeah, I just feel super sorry to the team. And to Max [Verstappen], of course, because obviously he was just a passenger.”
Penalty for the rookie
It was clear that Kimi Antonelli felt very guilty about the collision. However, the FIA will look over the incident from multiple angles and determine if and what type of penalty he should receive.
Taking the possible penalty over to the British GP, the Italian emphasised the real focus for Silverstone. The new Mercedes driver just wants to keep learning and improving:
“Yeah, no, no, of course. It’s a big mistake, and now we need to move forward and focus on Silverstone despite. You know, we’ll see if we get a penalty or not. But it’s going to be important to get back and to start doing like I did in Canada.”
The Stewards ultimately decided to award Kimi Antonelli a three-place grid penalty following the F1 Austrian GP incident with Verstappen.
