8 hours ago
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Max Verstappen said "every driver has made a mistake like that" after he was torpedoed into retirement by Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli in the Austrian Grand Prix.
Antonelli misjudged the third corner of the race and smashed into Verstappen's Red Bull, taking both out of the race.
Verstappen said: "Kimi is a very big talent, so he learns from that, you know, and that's all fine."
Antonelli apologised to Verstappen immediately after the incident, and the Dutchman said: "It's, of course, very nice. But, for me, it was already case closed anyway. I saw what happened. No-one does these things on their own purpose. It can happen."
The Italian rookie has been given a three-place grid penalty for next weekend's British Grand Prix for causing a collision.
Antonelli was caught unawares by cars braking in front of him and instead of going to the outside of the track, he turned towards the inside, where hitting another car was always likely to happen.
"I didn't brake necessarily too late, when I braked I locked the rears and I lost the car and I lost the rear," the 18-year-old told BBC Radio 5 Live.
"I had to then avoid [Racing Bulls' Liam] Lawson and I was just trying to slow down the car because obviously I had a big moment and I then locked up the front-left.
"I tried as much as possible to slow down the car, but unfortunately it was Max and I hit him. I am sorry towards him and the team as well because it was a mistake."
Verstappen's retirement, coupled with a one-two for McLaren drivers Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, was a significant blow to the Dutchman in the drivers' championship.
The world champion is 61 points behind Piastri, whose lead over Norris was cut to 15 points by the Briton with his third victory of the season.
Verstappen said: "I was never thinking about that anyway. So, yeah, we just take it race by race. And we try to just find more performance with the car. Try to learn from all the things that we are doing. And then, we'll see what happens."
Asked what he thought of his prospects for the British Grand Prix at Silverstone next weekend, he said: "Normally, (we are) a bit better in the high, high speed (corners). But, I mean, the pace of McLaren is insane. So, I'm not saying that we are going to beat them in Silverstone."
And he said that while Red Bull have further upgrades coming to add to the tweak to the floor edge introduced in Austria, he was not coincident they would enable him to regularly fight for wins.
"There are bits coming,' Verstappen said. "Is it enough to challenge McLaren? I'm not sure yet. Probably not.
"But, I also don't want to sound depressed. I know that everyone in the team always gives it 100%. And, we keep pushing, keep learning, keep trying to bring more performance to the car. And, that's the only thing that we can do."
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