30/06/2025 07:25
Toto Wolff has revealed what he said to Kimi Antonelli after the
Italian driver collided with Max Verstappen on the opening lap of
the Austrian Grand Prix. Heading into the third corner at the Red
Bull Ring, the 18-year-old appeared to misjudge the braking zone,
needing to take evasive action to avoid ploughing into the back of
Liam Lawson. Unfortunately, as he locked up, he was powerless to
prevent his Mercedes careering into the New Zealander - and
Verstappen, at Red Bull's home race. Whilst the Racing Bulls driver
was able to continue, ultimately finishing sixth, Antonelli and
Verstappen sustained grand prix-ending damage to their cars. It was
seemingly the first egregious error of the Mercedes driver's
fledgling F1 tenure, but following the race, he explained his rear
wheels locked after he did not change the brake settings on his W16
heading into Turn 3. When asked for his view on the incident, Wolff
highlighted that the Brackley squad needed to investigate to
understand what had happened, providing a level of cover for his
driver. "These mistakes happen," the Austrian told media, including
RacingNews365 . "The rears locked on the car. I'm not entirely sure
it was his fault or a system. "I haven't seen any data, nor did I
hear anything, because obviously we were concentrating on the race,
but that happens. "It's unfortunate, unfortunate for Max and Red
Bull that Kimi hit him, but that's racing." 'Well, that wasn't
great'... Antonelli immediately took responsibility for the
accident , apologising to Max Verstappen after they climbed out of
their cars. In turn, the Dutchman shared what he said to his peer
after the crash , whilst also graciously acknowledging that every
driver experiences a similar moment in their career - and that
Antonelli will learn from the event. With the persistent rumours
linking Verstappen to Mercedes, there was keen interest in how
Wolff would handle the situation. The team principal detailed his
first words to the one-time podium finisher, and defended his
driver by highlighting how the championship's best have made
similar misjudgements. "Yeah, he came into the garage quickly, and
I said, 'Well, that wasn't great,' which he obviously knew," the
53-year-old said. "But yeah, he said the tyres just locked - and we
need to analyse it. There's [no] margin for error in our business.
It's a shame that Max... or that we took another car out with us.
"But that can happen. It's happened to the great ones, happened to
the inexperienced ones and the experienced ones. It's just part of
Formula 1." Antonelli was deemed at fault by the FIA stewards in
Spielberg and will take a three-place grid penalty into the British
Grand Prix. He also received two penalty points on his super
licence.
