Max Verstappen believes the gusty conditions during second practice for Formula 1’s Austrian Grand Prix contributed to his crash.
Verstappen spun through Turn 10 and suffered a rear impact with the barriers, bringing his session to a premature conclusion.
On a hot and sunny day at the Red Bull Ring the wind picked up through the afternoon, with Valtteri Bottas also crashing – at Turn 6 – while Sebastian Vettel encountered a high-speed spin at Turn 10.
“My feeling in the car was good and we looked quite competitive,” said Verstappen, who finished the afternoon session in ninth place.
“I had traffic on my fastest lap so we would be a lot closer than my lap time shows. The car was working well, we still need to find a bit of a compromise between the corners and the straight-line speed but we will look at that tonight.
“It was very gusty and the wind wasn’t consistent which caught me out in the middle of the last corner.
“I lost the rear and hit the barrier pretty hard. Luckily, everything is fixable and it’s Friday so we’re not running all the race material yet.”
Red Bull team-mate Pierre Gasly placed third and reckons the ill-feeling that hampered his weekend in France has been consigned to the past.
“From this morning in FP1, I felt good with the car and I was able to push, so today was positive,” said Gasly.
“I felt a lot more comfortable than in France and I think we have a good direction.
“There was quite a lot happening in FP2 but we still managed to complete all the tests we wanted to.
“The conditions are really hot and it’s quite windy which makes things tricky, and I think the rising temperatures are the main thing we need to keep on top of looking ahead to Sunday.”
