Max Verstappen admitted his mistake after failing to complete the opening lap at the Dutch Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver lost control through the banked final corner, slamming heavily into the outside barriers and ending his home race prematurely.
It marked the first time Verstappen failed to finish his home grand prix, having finished inside the top two in each of the previous five editions at Zandvoort.
Rain before the start left parts of the circuit damp despite the race beginning on dry tyres, with conditions proving particularly difficult through the final corner.
Verstappen had already been involved in an eventful opening lap after starting seventh, finding himself squeezed towards the grass on the run to Turn 1 before battling new Red Bull teammate Liam Lawson through the following corners. The four-time world champion saw nothing wrong with Lawson racing him hard as the pair fought over position.
“We are allowed to race, so I think that’s normal,” he said.
Verstappen remained ahead of Lawson, only for his race to unravel moments later when he attempted to accelerate across what appeared to be a dry section of track through the final corner. He admitted he had simply misjudged how much grip was available.
“Then, yeah, I got caught out. It was still quite wet in that corner, and as soon as I saw the dry patch coming, I was like, ‘Now you can accelerate’, but clearly that didn’t work. So probably it was still a bit too early,” he explained.
The RB22 snapped away from Verstappen and hit the barrier at high speed before sliding back across the circuit, with the damage severe enough to bring out the red flag. Gabriel Bortoleto also spun through the same corner behind him but was able to continue, while Verstappen climbed from his damaged car without injury.
He described the crash as “a decent hit” but said the nature of the impact had helped limit its severity. “I think also a more frontal impact [with the barrier] is actually a bit better than a sideways one, so from that sense all okay,” Verstappen explained. He also revealed the impact did not exceed the threshold that would have required him to visit the medical centre.
“It was a decent hit, but it was okay. I asked if I could not go to the medical centre, and they were like it was still below the thresholds,” he said.
The early exit completed a difficult weekend for Verstappen and Red Bull, which had struggled to match the pace of McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari throughout the final Zandvoort event. Verstappen conceded there had been little prospect of challenging the leading teams even had his race continued, describing Red Bull as only the fourth-fastest team at present. “I wish for more, but you need to be realistic this season,” he said. “We are the fourth-fastest team, so it’s not like walking up to Zandvoort and suddenly we can do some magic things. It’s just how it is, other teams have the pace.”
Baca Juga
Kimi Antonelli mengakui Mercedes bukan lagi tim tercepat di F1 setelah kalah dari McLaren di GP Belanda. Persaingan juara semakin ketat.
Bearman dan Bortoleto lolos dari penalti berat F1 setelah melanggar lampu pit lane di GP Belanda. Teguran resmi diberikan karena balapan belum 'hidup'. McLaren menang.
Liam Lawson meraih poin perdana bersama Red Bull setelah finis ketujuh di GP Belanda. Bos tim Laurent Mekies memuji performanya yang impresif.
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