Former Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg believes that Max Verstappen was entirely at fault for the shocking first-lap shunt that took him out of his home Grand Prix.
In what was the final F1 race to be held at Zandvoort for the foreseeable future, Verstappen’s ‘orange army’ flocked in its thousands in the hope the home hero would put up a good show.
But his weekend, which began with the announcement of a seismic new Red Bull contract extension, ended with a frightening crash on the final corner on the opening lap.
Before the race, rain began to fall heavily in patches as cars left their pits to go to the grid. But, before lights-out, the sun began to appear again.
But parts of the Zandvoort circuit remained damp, and Verstappen, who had been battling temporary teammate Liam Lawson, lost control of his RB22 when exiting the final corner.
The slide sent Verstappen careening into the armco, before coming to a halt on the opposite side of the circuit, bringing out the red flag.
Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto also crashed, but thankfully, other drivers avoided the chaos.
Rosberg: ‘One of the greatest of all-time’ crashing shows difficult of wet-dry races
Speaking as an analyst for Sky Sports F1, 2016 World Champion Rosberg indicated that if a driver of Verstappen’s high level is vulnerable to crashing, the conditions are, by that definition, hugely tricky.
“First of all, it’s wet there. It’s wet/dry. It’s a mix of everything. It’s incredibly difficult. On slick tyres, to drive through this high-speed corner is the hardest thing in the world,” he said.
“Max is clearly tighter than everybody else, and when you look more closely, it looks like the dry patch is offset by like 50 centimetres from the inside.
“I think he just put a bit too much throttle down, and you’re gone. And look, he’s the greatest of the moment, [the] greatest driver out there, one of the greatest of all time.
“That just goes to show how difficult it is out there in these conditions.”
Verstappen admitted it was still “a bit too early” to hit the throttle when he did, ending his chances of a positive result in front of his adoring supporters.
READ MORE – Max Verstappen details heartbreaking F1 Dutch GP shunt
Discussion about this post