Max Verstappen has leapt to the defence of Kimi Antonelli after the pair collided during the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix, insisting that “every driver makes mistakes” as he backed the Mercedes rookie to bounce back.
Antonelli took himself and the reigning World Champion out of the race on Lap 1 as he couldn’t stop himself steaming into Turn 3.
At the race start, the Italian found himself behind Liam Lawson as the drivers climbed up the hill, but the sudden braking of others ahead caught him out.
Unable to stop in time, he narrowly avoided heavy contact with the Racing Bulls, but could not stop himself from clattering into the Red Bull of Verstappen, retiring both of them on the spot.
The Dutchman initially appeared irked by the incident over the team radio but later came to the defence of the 18-year-old.
Revealing the conversations with Antonelli in the aftermath of the crash, he said: “I just asked what happened, because he was the only car that was there with me, with this wheel hanging off.
“So I was like, ‘I’m pretty sure that he hit me’. And yeah, then, of course, I saw the footage once I came back [to the garage], and it happens.
“Every driver has made a mistake like that in their career, and also, Kimi is a very big talent, so he learns from that, and that’s all fine.”
The 27-year-old Verstappen also appreciated Antonelli approaching him after the incident.
“It’s, of course, very nice, but for me, it was already case closed anyway. I saw what happened and no one does these things on purpose. It can happen.”
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Verstappen reflects on tough weekend as Red Bull struggles continue
While Verstappen was quick to defend Antonelli, he admitted the incident added to what was already a frustrating weekend for Red Bull at its home race at the Red Bull Ring.
“I was just unlucky, like yesterday in qualifying, but overall we didn’t really have that great pace anyway this weekend,” he told Sky Sports F1.
“So a lot of learnings for us, how we hopefully can do better next weekend, but yeah, of course it’s not an ideal result today.”
The DNF for Verstappen ends a run of 31 consecutive races finishing with points, which started with victory in Japan back in 2024.
Antonelli has now failed to finish three of the last five races, following technical retirements at both the Emilia Romagna and Spanish Grands Prix.
Asked about his own prospects for the rest of the season, Verstappen was pragmatic: “We try to do our best always, my mentality doesn’t change, we’ve won a lot in the past.
“Sometimes you have to accept that you are not winning, and we just try to do the best we can.”
It was a miserable day for the Milton Keynes-based squad as Yuki Tsunoda finished last of the classified runners after clashes with Franco Colapinto on track.
The team leaves Austria with no points and continues to lag behind its rivals, Mercedes and Ferrari.
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