Red Bull’s Max Verstappen has “mixed emotions” about spinning out of his final home race at the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix.
With his home event leaving the F1 calendar after this season, Verstappen’s hopes of an unlikely victorious farewell to Zandvoort ended at the end of the opening lap after he dipped his front-right tyre on the exit of Arie Luyendyk Bocht onto the grass.
The 28-year-old four-time champion consequently was sent spinning across the track heavily into the outside barriers, which bounced him back across the track and caused his car to come to a rest at the pit entry.
Verstappen however walked away unharmed from the high-speed incident and admitted that he simply misjudged the conditions of the exit of that corner, having experienced a rain shower around 40 minutes before the race commenced.
“It was a shame how my race ended today, but I am all okay. It looked like it was dry in that spot, so I tried to accelerate and it just caught me out. I was a bit unlucky, lost the car and went into the wall unfortunately. We didn’t have the pace this weekend to fight for the win, which is something that we still need to work on.”
Verstappen had previously won his home event in the first three editions of its return to F1 in 2021, 22 & 23 which comforted him despite knowing that he hadn’t finished his home race for the first time.
“I have mixed emotions as it was positive seeing so many fans here for one final time but obviously a huge shame and quite disappointing to not finish the race.
“Luckily, we have such positive memories here and were able to achieve great things at this track, so I want to thank the fans for all the support. It has been something really special and I hope they have enjoyed it as well over all these years.
Leave a Reply