Max Verstappen reveals what he said to Kimi Antonelli after Lap 1 crash

Max Verstappen has revealed the conversation he had with Kimi Antonelli following their Lap 1 collision at the Austrian Grand Prix. The incident saw Verstappen's race end prematurely after Antonelli, who was behind, collided with his Red Bull.

Verstappen's Austrian GP Frustration

The Austrian Grand Prix marked a rare DNF for Verstappen, his first since the Australian Grand Prix earlier in the season. This unfortunate outcome compounded a challenging weekend for the Dutch driver, who had also struggled in qualifying, failing to set a final flying lap due to yellow flags.

Verstappen shared his immediate thoughts after the crash, admitting he was initially unaware of the cause.

"We had a good start, so that was, I think, already a nice improvement from the last two races where I was not particularly happy with it," he told the media, including PlanetF1.com. "But in Turn 3, the race was over.

"Because at that point I didn’t know what happened. We had quite a bit of damage, the car nearly 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 in terms of pace and we have to try and analyse that and hopefully have a little bit of a more positive weekend next week."

Following the incident, Verstappen was seen speaking with Antonelli. He clarified that the conversation was not confrontational but rather an inquiry into what had occurred.

"I just asked what happened, because he was the only car that was there with me, with his wheel hanging off, so I’m pretty sure that he hit me. "Then, of course, 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.

"Kimi is a very big talent, so he’ll learn from that."

Antonelli had previously stated his intention to apologize to Verstappen. Verstappen acknowledged this, describing it as "nice" and labeling the collision a "racing incident."

"It’s of course, very nice," Verstappen said. "For me, it was already a racing incident because I saw what happened. No one does these things on purpose. It can happen."

With this result, Verstappen now trails series leader Oscar Piastri by 61 points.