Max Verstappen reveals what he said to Kimi Antonelli after Lap 1 crash

Max Verstappen revealed he asked Kimi Antonelli what had happened after a crash from behind caught him blind.

The Dutchman was in the wrong place at the wrong time on the opening lap in Austria as Kimi Antonelli slammed on the brakes into Turn 3 and collided with the Red Bull driver.

Max Verstappen reveals immediate post-crash reaction in Austrian GP

The incident, which saw Verstappen DNF for the first time since the 2024 Australian Grand Prix, summed up an unfortunate weekend for the Dutchman following his inability to set a final flying lap in qualifying due to yellow flags.

Asked for his reaction on the crash, Verstappen revealed he initially had no idea what happened.

“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 it,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com. “But in Turn 3, the race was over.

“Because at that point I didn’t know what happened. We had quite a bit of damage,  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 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.”

After the crash, Verstappen was seen speaking to Antonelli but the Dutchman revealed that rather than any angry words exchanged, he was simply asking what had happened.

“I just asked what happened, because he was the only car that was there with me, with his wheel hanging off, so I’m pretty sure that he hit me.

“Then, of course, I saw the footage once I came back and it happens, you know? I mean, every driver has made a mistake like that. Everyone has made a mistake like that in their careers.

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“Kimi is a very big talent, so he’ll learn from that.”

Before Verstappen spoke, Antonelli visited the mixed zone and said he would seek out Verstappen to apologise. When told that, the Dutchman said it was “nice” but that he considered it a “racing incident.”

“It’s of course, very nice,” Verstappen, who is now 61 points off leader Oscar Piastri, said.

“For me, it was already a racing incident because I saw what happened. No one does these things on purpose. It can happen.”

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