Verstappen addresses Antonelli Austria GP crash: "No one does these things on purpose"

Max Verstappen has downplayed his crash with Kimi Antonelli at the Austrian GP, calling it a simple mistake

Max Verstappen's championship hopes look well and truly dashed after a disaster weekend at Austria's Red Bull Ring. Not only did the reigning champion start in a disappointing seventh place, but his race barely began before he was clipped by Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli at Turn 3 of the opening lap. Following the race, he reacted to the incident with the young rookie.

Just moments into the race at Red Bull's home circuit, the four-time champion pushed hard during an impressive start. But a collision with the Mercedes driver saw both cars sustain enough damage to end their races.

"[The start of the race] was a nice improvement from the last three races, where I was not particularly happy with the start.

"At that point I didn't know what happened," Verstappen explained to Motorsport.com and other media. "We had quite a bit of damage, and the car needed [to be] 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 I guess in terms of pace. We have to try and analyse that and hopefully have a little bit of a more positive weekend next week."

Verstappen's reaction to the clash was relaxed, with him accepting the fact that it was a simple mistake from the Silver Arrows driver as he revealed what he'd asked Antonelli after the two were out of their cars.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Mercedes

Photo by: Andy Hone / LAT Images via Getty Images

"I just asked what happened because he was the only guy that was there with me, with his wheel hanging off. So I was like... well, I’m pretty sure that he hit me.

"Then 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. And also, Kimi is a very big talent. So he learns from that and that's all fine."

The Italian spoke to Verstappen following the crash, too - something the Dutchman was appreciative of.

"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."

Verstappen's championship hopes have now taken another hit, with a 61-point gap now hanging between him and McLaren's Oscar Piastri. And after a horrifying race for the Milton Keynes team, scoring no points for the first time in 77 races, they now sit fourth in the constructors' standings. But Verstappen hasn't been thinking about a championship win this season.

"I was never thinking about that anyway. So yeah, we just take it race by race and we try to just find more performance with the car. Try to learn from all the things that we are doing, and then we'll see what happens."