Kimi Antonelli Penalized After Crash with Max Verstappen at F1 Austrian GP 2025 Ahead of British GP
The Austrian GP 2025 start was very eventful, with three racers out of the competition before the first lap. While Carlos Sainz was forced out of the grid following his Williams’ car catching fire during the formation lap, Kimi Antonelli crashed into Max Verstappen in the braking zone of Turn 3 after losing control of his Mercedes car. This cost reigning F1 champion, Max Verstappen, the race as the Dutch star was also forced out with the rookie Antonelli.
It marked Antonelli’s fourth non-score in five races, with the torrid streak broken by an impressive podium finish in Canada. After the review, Kimi Antonelli has been handed a three-place grid penalty for the British Grand Prix 2025. Explaining their decision, the stewards said:
“The driver of Car 12 locked up the rear brakes into Turn 3 and collided with Car 1. 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 1. The Stewards determine that, although the incident happened in 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.”
Lando Norris wins the race, closing in on Oscar Piastri at the top of the F1 standings. Max Verstappen still stands third in the points table with 155 points.
Max Verstappen’s Interaction with Kimi Antonelli After Crash at F1 Austrian GP 2025
While Antonelli immediately took responsibility for his mistake, Max Verstappen, still in the race for the fifth title in a row, had words with him as they left the track. The 18-year-old was unsure of what the Dutchman said to him in response. But later in an interview, Max Verstappen cleared the ‘chaos’.
The 4-time champion told media, “I just asked what happened, because he was the only car that was there with me, with this wheel hanging off,” He maintained that Antonelli is a very talented racer and will learn from his mistakes.
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