"It's easy to blame the track" - Max Verstappen feels the conditions that led to Dilano van ’t Hoff’s death need to be questioned

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen mentioned that it is very easy to blame the track layout of Spa Fracorchamps after the death of fellow Dutch driver Dilano van 't Hoff on Saturday, July 1.

The young driver was participating in a FRECA race at the iconic track and lost his life after an incident in the wet conditions during the dangerous first sector of the circuit. Immediately after the news, some F1 drivers like Lance Stroll called for changes at the track ahead of the F1 race later this month.

In his post-Sprint press conference, Max Verstappen said:

"Yeah, incredibly sad. I didn't know him, of course, personally. Of course, he was a Dutch racing driver, an up-and-coming racing driver as well, who had the same dreams as we had when we were at that age, wanting to get to Formula 1 or whatever. And yeah, it's incredibly sad for the whole family, everyone involved, the team, MP Motorsport. I know quite a lot of people there."

"Again, we have to look into these kinds of situations," he added. "It's easy to blame the track, but I think also looking at how wet it was and these kinds of things. Yeah, definitely there are things that we have to look at for the future, what we can do better to protect drivers, because I think today it was unnecessary, clearly."

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Max Verstappen analyzes his start to the Austrian GP Sprint race

Max Verstappen stated that he did not have a great start in the race as he was passed by his teammate Sergio Perez into turn 1. He also commented on the opening lap battle with the Mexican driver that was hotly contested between them.

The Red Bull driver said:

"Yeah, I didn't have a great start and then just had a lot of wheel spin, and oscillations going on and then you just lose out massively. And then out of Turn 1 had a little moment there, where I had to go with two wheels on the grass, which was very slippery."

"But then got back on and braked quite late into Turn 3," he added. "And then it was all like, two or three wide going into Turn 4. And then we all settled in. And yeah, we knew… I think everyone knew that 24 laps on an Intermediate when the track is drying is quite long. So it was all about just trying to look after the tires while trying to drive fast as well. But that's not always the easiest."

It will be interesting to see if Max Verstappen can win the main race on Sunday as well.