Kimi Antonelli has been penalized with three grid positions for next week’s British Grand Prix, after causing a collision with Max Verstappen in Austria. Antonelli, the Mercedes rookie, just 18 years old, crashed into the side of Verstappen’s Red Bull, four-time world champion, after locking his brakes on the third turn of the first lap on Sunday. Both cars suffered damage that forced the drivers to abandon the race, which was a hard blow to Verstappen’s title aspirations.
Antonelli apologized to Verstappen after the Austrian Grand Prix, and the Dutchman called the crash “unfortunate.” However, the race stewards did not look favorably upon the incident and penalized the Italian with a grid penalty for next week’s race at Silverstone. Antonelli also received two penalty points, the first of his career.
The stewards stated that Antonelli “made a mistake” by locking the rear wheels, but he was also trying to avoid a collision with Liam Lawson’s car, which was ahead, so he “released the brakes for a short period of time to do so”.“Taking evasive action caused the car to have less grip on the dirty inside line and therefore was unable to decelerate the car to avoid the collision with car 1,” they added in their judgment.
Race Stewards
Over the team radio, Verstappen said “f—ing idiots” after the crash, but then accepted Antonelli’s apologies.
Verstappen is 61 points behind Piastri in the title race after the Australian finished second behind Lando Norris at the Red Bull Ring.“I didn’t necessarily brake too late,” explained Antonelli. “But when I did, I braked hard and at that moment I locked the rear wheels and couldn’t turn the car. It was already too late because I was arriving too fast. The crash was inevitable. I’m very sorry for what happened to the team and to Max, of course.”
Kimi Antonelli
