Antonelli handed grid penalty for Verstappen collision in Austrian GP

Mercedes rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli has been handed a three-place grid penalty for next weekend’s British Grand Prix, following his opening-lap collision with Max Verstappen at the Red Bull Ring in Austria.

The 17-year-old Italian was deemed fully at fault for the crash, which ended the races of both himself and the reigning world champion after he locked up under braking and slid into the Red Bull at Turn 3.

Race stewards investigated the incident after the race and confirmed that Antonelli would also receive two penalty points on his licence for the error.

The Stewards’ Verdict

In their official report, the Austrian Grand Prix stewards outlined the sequence of events and Antonelli’s own explanation of what went wrong:

“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,” the report 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.”

Apology Offered to Verstappen

Antonelli, who had started the Austrian Grand Prix looking to build on a string of solid rookie performances, immediately accepted responsibility for the crash. The Italian personally apologised to Verstappen in the aftermath of the incident.

The Turn 3 clash brought out the safety car on the first lap, leaving Verstappen to watch the race from the sidelines in front of his team’s home crowd and dealing a blow to his championship hopes.

• Read also: Antonelli remorseful, Verstappen dismissive after opening lap crash

As Antonelli did not finish the race, the grid drop will now be applied to next Sunday's British Grand Prix at Silverstone — the Italian’s home race by team affiliation, and one of the most high-profile weekends on the F1 calendar.

The penalty is a setback for Antonelli as he continues to navigate the steep learning curve of his debut season, and Mercedes will now be hoping for a clean and competitive response from the young talent on British soil.

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