Red Bull’s Max Verstappen considered his first-lap collision with Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli at 2025 Austrian Grand Prix to be an “unfortunate” accident.
On a weekend which saw rumours that Verstappen would replace Antonelli at Mercedes in 2026 heat up, the pair were eliminated at turn 3 on the opening lap after Antonelli locked up his rear brakes and spun Verstappen out mid-corner.
Many expected Verstappen to react furiously but he instead was uncharacteristically relaxed about the incident as he praised Antonelli for taking immediate responsibility.
“The incident with Kimi on the first lap was unfortunate but no one does that on purpose and I knew it was an accident. He apologised to me when we were walking back from the track and he came to my room afterwards to apologise again, we get on very well, he is an amazing guy and a super talented driver.”
Red Bull advisor, Helmut Marko meanwhile wrote off Verstappen’s title chances as he pointed to the Dutchman’s 61-point deficit to title leader, Oscar Piastri.
“We’ve got some updates coming over the next two races, but this was a performance that, I’d almost say… yes, it forces us to write off the championship,” explained Marko to Austrian broadcaster, ORF.
ORF subsequently challenged the seriousness of his claim to which Marko responded that the time and points deficit means that wins need to come soon such is McLaren’s pace.
When asked if he was being serious, Marko added: “With this kind of gap and unless we manage to catch up soon enough to win on merit, I mean, how many points is Max trailing now?
“Looking at McLaren’s performance; they only had a dip in Canada, when they needed new parts. That’s not something we can rely on happening again. So no, it doesn’t look good.
“Unfortunately, it’s both, the time gap and the 60-point margin, which is nearly equivalent to three race wins. That’s incredibly difficult to recover.”
Verstappen however hit back at Marko’s remark as he insisted that he is still focused on his title defence despite his disappointing non-finish in Austria.
“We have had some amazing performances at this track in the past and I am the most disappointed about this result in front of a home crowd, but we will continue to try and do our best and my mentality and focus will not change.”