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Max Verstappen hopes that his championship prospects are not a major talking point following the 2025 Austrian GP. Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the race, the Dutchman labelled the incident with Kimi Antonelli as unfortunate and admitted Red Bull lacked pace throughout the weekend.
Verstappen was running seventh when he was hit by the Mercedes rookie at the start of the race, forcing him into retirement and further widening the gap to the McLaren drivers in the standings. As for the latter, he has been handed a three place grid penalty for the next race after his collision with the Dutch driver.
Reflecting on the weekend, Verstappen pointed to qualifying as the start of his troubles, where yellow flags prevented him from completing his final lap. He felt the team lacked competitiveness throughout and believed that even without the crash, Red Bull didn’t have the pace to challenge in Spielberg. He hopes for a turnaround in Silverstone.
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Despite the recent setbacks, Verstappen reaffirmed his commitment to Red Bull and expressed confidence in the team. He acknowledged the performance deficit but remained focused on maximising results for the rest of the season, stating that being on the back foot wouldn’t change his mindset or approach.
When asked about the impact of the retirement in the driver’s championship, Max Verstappen said,
“Hopefully then people will not mention it too much anymore.”
Speaking about the incident with Antonelli that caused his retirement, he added:
“It’s just unlucky, like yesterday in qualifying. But overall, we didn’t really have that great pace anyway this weekend, so a lot of learning for us how we can hopefully do better next weekend. But of course, not an ideal result today.”
Asked about Red Bull’s prospects for the rest of the season, Max Verstappen said:
“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 that we can.”
Red Bull are currently fourth in the Constructor's Championship standings, a whopping 255 points off McLaren, who lead the race.
Max Verstappen explains conversation with Kimi Antonelli after the Austrian GP crash
Max Verstappen admitted to having a conversation with Kimi Antonelli after their crash at the Austrian GP. He acknowledged that the incident was not intentional and described it as a mistake any driver could make. Verstappen praised the Italian rookie as a great talent and believed he would learn from the experience. The reigning champion held no ill feelings towards the Mercedes driver and labelled the clash as simply an unfortunate racing incident.
Speaking to F1 TV Max Verstappen described the chat with Antonelli after the crash, saying:
“Unlucky, I guess. It is what it is. I spoke quickly to Kimi, he came with me to the hospitality. I think every driver has made a mistake like that. No one does that on purpose as well so for me, that’s not a big deal.”
When asked by the media about the conversation with the Mercedes rookie, the Dutchman said:
“I just asked what happened, because he was the only car that was there with me, with his 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.”
Max Verstappen sits third in the driver’s championship with 155 points, but the gap to the McLaren drivers has significantly widened after his retirement in Austria. Before the race, he trailed Lando Norris by 21 points and Oscar Piastri by 43. Post-Austria, that gap has grown to 46 points to Norris and 61 to Piastri. With 13 races remaining in the season, the reigning champion will need to capitalize on every opportunity to stay in contention for the title or at least secure a top-three finish. However, with the RB21 currently lacking pace, the task ahead could be a major challenge unless Red Bull can make meaningful improvements.
