Max Verstappen’s final home race at the Dutch Grand Prix ended in heartbreak before it even really began, and now the four-time world champion is opening up about what went wrong.
The Red Bull star spun into the barriers at the last corner on the very first lap, triggering a 30-minute red flag that silenced the orange-clad crowd at Zandvoort.
Speaking after the race, Verstappen admitted he might have jumped on the gas too soon when he spotted a dry line approaching on the damp track.
“I got caught out,” he explained. “It was still quite wet in that corner and then as soon as I saw the dry patch coming, I was like, now you can accelerate but clearly that didn’t work.”
The impact was heavy, but Verstappen revealed it didn’t hit the 15G threshold that would have forced him to visit the medical center.
“It was a decent hit, but I’ve had worse,” he said. “I just asked, can I not go to the medical centre? And they were like, ‘It’s still below the threshold, so sorry’.”
Starting from seventh on the grid after a tough weekend of struggling for pace, the Dutchman called the entire event “disappointing.”
“We just couldn’t really fight with the guys ahead so that’s probably the most disappointing part,” he added. “I wish that I could have done a little bit more in the race.”
With Monza up next, Verstappen is already looking ahead, hoping for a more competitive showing in Italy.
Could this be the wake-up call Red Bull needs to turn their season around?
