Red Bull Apologizes to Max Verstappen and Shares Health Update After Austrian GP Crash
Red Bull Racing has said sorry to Max Verstappen after he crashed during qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix.
On Saturday, late in Q3, Verstappen lost control at Turn 9. His RB22 went through the gravel and hit a safety barrier. Thankfully, Max, 28, was fine and got out of the car on his own. He ended up qualifying fifth for Sunday’s race.
The FIA put up a single yellow flag during the incident. Both Mercedes drivers, Kimi Antonelli and George Russell, passed it while finishing their laps. This caused some confusion — Antonelli stopped his lap because of the yellow flag, but Russell only slowed down a bit and still grabbed pole position, beating Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc by over two tenths.
After the crash, Red Bull boss Laurent Mekies took full responsibility and reassured everyone that Max is okay and will race this weekend. Mekies said, “The most important thing is that Max is safe. He had a great first run, and his last run was fast until he lost control at Turn 9. The way the crash happened was unusual — Max lost rear downforce and couldn’t save it. We’re sorry and take full responsibility.”
Red Bull hopes to make up ground at the Austrian GP, with only four races left before the summer break. Verstappen has a contract option that could let him leave the team if he’s not in the top two by then. Right now, he’s seventh in the championship after finishing fourth in Barcelona.
The weekend nearly started badly when Max only placed 10th in Q2 and narrowly avoided being knocked out by Pierre Gasly by just 0.040 seconds. Mekies explained why Max only did one run in Q2: “Not sending Max for a second run was a close call, but we took the risk to save new Soft tires for the race and have more strategy options.”
Max looked set to finish in the top two in qualifying but will now start the race in fifth. Russell will start from pole, followed by Leclerc and Hamilton.
The Austrian GP begins at 2 pm BST on Sunday at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg.