Antonelli suffers F1 British GP grid drop after Verstappen clash in Austria

Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been hit with a three-place grid penalty for the Formula 1 British Grand Prix after crashing into Max Verstappen on the opening lap in Austria.

The Mercedes rookie locked his rear tyres heading into Turn 3 and shunted into Verstappen, leading to both cars retiring from the grand prix.

Antonelli accepted blame and apologised to his Red Bull rival but, after the race, the stewards decided that the collision was solely the fault of the Italian, giving him a grid drop at Silverstone next Sunday, as well as two penalty points on his licence as a result.

“The stewards heard from the driver of car 12 (Kimi Antonelli), the team representative, and reviewed video evidence. The driver of car 12 locked up the rear brakes into Turn 3 and collided with car 1,” a report from the stewards read.

“In the hearing, the driver admitted that he made a mistake as he locked up the rear wheels while using his regular braking point, but also pointed out that he needed to avoid a collision with car 30 (Liam Lawson) in front of him and released the brakes for a short period of time to do so.

“Taking evasive action led to the car having less grip on the dirty inside line and therefore he was not able to decelerate the car in a way to avoid the collision with car 1. The stewards determine that, although the incident happened on lap 1, no other cars influenced the incident and the driver of car 12 is fully at fault.

“Therefore, the more lenient approach to judging lap 1 incidents has not been applied in this case. However, they also acknowledge that the incident was not a blatant attempt to dive into the corner but rather a result of the evasive action after locking up. As the driver was not able to continue the race, a grid drop for the next race is applied.”

Verstappen was shown on television cameras speaking to Antonelli as they walked away from their respective cars, with the four-time world champion full of empathy for the 18-year-old.

“No, no, I just asked what happened, because he was the only car that was there with me with his wheel hanging off, so I was like, maybe, well, I’m pretty sure that he hit me,” explained Verstappen. 

“Then of course I saw the footage once I came back and it happens. Every driver has made a mistake like that. Everyone has made a mistake like that in their careers and also Kimi is a very big talent, so he learns from that and that’s all fine.”