Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been given a three-place grid drop for the next race after crashing into Max Verstappen on the first lap of the Austrian Grand Prix.
Verstappen suffered his first retirement since last year’s Australian Grand Prix, 31 races ago, after being hit by Antonelli. The Mercedes driver will serve his penalty at next week’s British Grand Prix.
Antonelli ran deep into turn three as the race began. He dived to the inside of the corner but was unable to avoid hitting Verstappen’s Red Bull. Both drivers retired on the spot.
“I got hit like crazy,” Verstappen told his race engineer Simon Rennie. “Fucking idiots.”
The Mercedes driver apologised to his team after the collision. “Sorry about that,” he said. “I locked the rear.”
He also said sorry to Verstappen “straight away” after getting out of his car. “I recognise it’s full on me and I just feel sorry because I ended my race but I ended his as well,” Antonelli told the official F1 channel.
Antonelli said he was not trying to brake late for the corner. “I had a normal start and then going up to [turn three] I was just trying to maintain position,” he said. “I didn’t want to do anything because I knew there was no space in front.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“But then when I hit the brake I locked the rear and I got caught by that. When I locked the rear I lost the car and then I had to first avoid the Racing Bulls. Then I just couldn’t stop the car, and unfortunately I hit Max. I just feel very sorry towards the team and him, of course.”
Verstappen accepted Antonelli’s apology. “I spoke quickly to Kimi, also he came even to the hospitality,” he said. “I think every driver has made a mistake like that, no one does that on purpose as well. So for me, that’s not a big deal.”
The stewards took Antonelli’s explanation into account when deciding their penalty. They ruled he was entirely responsible for the collision but had not been making a reckless attempt to dive up the inside of other cars.
“The driver of car 12 [Antonelli] locked up the rear brakes into turn three and collided with car on {Verstappen]. 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 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 one.
“The stewards determine that, although the incident happened in lap one, 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.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
“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.”
The stewards also gave Antonelli his first two penalty points for the collision. It is his second grid drop penalty of the year, having previously received one at the Bahrain Grand Prix after his team sent him into the fast lane too early during a qualifying session.
Antonelli and Verstappen previously tangled in very different circumstances in the pit lane during the Miami Grand Prix. The Red Bull driver was given a 10-second time penalty after his team released him into the side of the Mercedes following a pit stop.
This article will be updated
Miss nothing from RaceFans
Get a daily email with all our latest stories – and nothing else. No marketing, no ads. Sign up here:
2025 Austrian Grand Prix
- McLaren’s warning over turn four more on Norris was “fair” – Piastri
- Red Bull need to understand cause of Tsunoda’s “horrible” race – Horner
- Colapinto given penalty point for forcing Piastri off while being lapped
- Antonelli gets three-place grid drop for Silverstone after taking Verstappen out
- Norris resists Piastri to lead McLaren one-two after Verstappen is taken out