Austria, Antonelli throws Verstappen out. Kimi: "I apologize". And Max forgives him

The Austrian Grand Prix provided surprises from the first lap. Antonelli made a mistake, lost control of his W16 entering turn 3 and hit an innocent Verstappen. The accident forced both to retire and a race without points that could weigh heavily on the Constructors' championship for Mercedes and on the Drivers' championship for Max. The two immediately explained themselves as they returned to the pits, with Kimi then publicly apologizing, accepted, to the Dutchman.

Starting from ninth on the grid, Antonelli loses the rear under braking and arrives at turn 3 without control of the W16. Having avoided Lawson, he however hits Verstappen. He explains what happened to Sky Sport: "I didn't necessarily brake too late, but when I went to pinch I locked the rear and from there the disaster happened. Afterwards I had to avoid Liam and I started to lock the front, without managing to stop him. It's a shame, I'm sorry for the team, but above all for Max because obviously he had nothing to do with it". The Race Commission has given Kimi a three-place grid penalty to serve at Silverstone.

Verstappen is thus out of the running right from the start, interrupting a streak of 31 points-scoring races. The Dutchman, usually fiery, accepts the young rookie's apologies this time, probably because he already feels out of the running for the title: "It's not a problem. I get along very well with Kimi and nobody does these things on purpose. At that moment I didn't realise what had happened, I just felt the blow. It was just a lot of bad luck". This zero can weigh heavily in the drivers' championship, where he is in third place 61 points behind leader Piastri; compromised championship? "I think that is already very far away and I'm absolutely not looking at it anymore".