Verstappen praises Antonelli despite ‘unfortunate’ crash at Austrian Grand Prix
30th June 2025Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen has praised Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli, despite the latter crashing into the defending world champion at the Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix.
Feature image credit: Getty Images // Red Bull Content Pool
The reigning world champion has praised Mercedes’ Antonelli, describing the rookie as an ‘amazing guy and a super talented driver,’ as the 18-year-old took responsibility for the ‘unfortunate’ first lap incident, which saw both drivers retire from the race.
Verstappen started the Austrian GP out of position on the grid, down in seventh, after the reigning four-time world champion backed off his lap in Qualifying on Saturday when Alpine’s Pierre Gasly spun.
Even though he made it cleanly through the first corner melee, his race quickly ended as he was hit by Antonelli at the top of the hill, at turn three. Both cars retired instantly on the opening lap, prompting the safety car to be deployed as the marshals worked to extract the two cars from the Red Bull Ring.
Following the incident, it was shown that Verstappen and Antonelli were in discussion as they walked off the circuit before heading back to the paddock. Verstappen confirmed the young Italian had apologised on the track for the incident, and then apologised again in the Dutchman’s room. He said:
“The incident with Kimi on the first lap was unfortunate but no one does that on purpose and I knew it was an accident. He apologised to me when we were walking back from the track and he came to my room afterwards to apologise again, we get on very well, he is an amazing guy and a super talented driver.”
As the pack raced up into turn three, Antonelli was in the midfield behind the likes of Verstappen, Racing Bulls’ Liam Lawson and Kick Sauber’s Gabriel Bortoleto. When the pack hit the brakes into the tight right-hander, Antonelli darted out and locked up.
The Italian driver was not able to slow down his Mercedes W16 in time and locked up further before ploughing into the side of Verstappen. The Dutchman was spun around on contact as Antonelli suffered heavy damage to his car. Fortunately, both drivers were quickly seen getting out of their cars and walking away from the wreck.
The stewards have confirmed that Antonelli will have to serve a three-place grid penalty at the British Grand Prix this weekend for the incident.
“I am very disappointed with how today played out,” said Antonelli. “After the lights went out, I was just trying to maintain my starting position but made a mistake coming into Turn Three and that cost me a lot. I did not brake too late but after trying to avoid Liam (Lawson) I locked the rear brakes. I then locked the front brakes too and could not avoid the crash with Max (Verstappen).
“We didn’t get to see how our race would have played out so apologies to the team. I also want to say sorry to Max for ruining his race too. This was a big mistake, and I know we could have fought for a good result without it.”
With only Mercedes completing the Austrian GP, and behind both Ferrari cars, it meant that the Italian team jumped up to second place in the constructors whilst Mercedes dropped to second. The two teams are now separated by a single point in the team standings.
Red Bull did not score any points following Verstappen’s retirement as his teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, finished down in P16 in what was a troublesome home race for the Red Bull team.
Next up is the British Grand Prix, at Silverstone, and it will get underway this weekend on July 4 – 6.
Read more Formula 1 here:
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- Austrian GP: Norris takes pole position by half a second
- Austrian GP: Lando Norris fastest ahead of Oscar Piastri
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
