F1 Austrian Grand Prix: FIA announce penalty points verdict over Max Verstappen incident

Max Verstappen, Red Bull, FIA, Imola, 2025 — Photo: © IMAGO

Austrian Grand Prix

FIA announce penalty points verdict over Max Verstappen incident at Austrian Grand Prix

Verstappen and Antonelli were involved in a crash at the Austrian GP

Kerry Violet F1 News Editor

F1 editor and journalist covering motorsport since 2024.

Sunday 29 June 2025 22:12

The FIA have announced the F1 stewards' penalty points verdict after an incident between Max Verstappen and Kimi Antonelli at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The weekend in the Styrian mountains ended in disaster for Red Bull at their home track with a last-place finish for Yuki Tsunoda and a DNF for Verstappen.

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The reigning champion was involved in a lap-one incident with Antonelli, which saw both the Red Bull and Mercedes stars ruled out of the grand prix on Sunday.

The young Mercedes rookie claimed responsibility for the incident over team radio and was even spotted heading to Red Bull's hospitality following the crash, potentially to apologise.

The FIA have now announced the punishment verdict for the rookie driver, with the stewards handing Antonelli two penalty points and a drop of three grid positions.

However, because the 18-year-old was unable to continue the race in Austria, he will instead have to serve his grip drop at next weekend's British GP.

Kimi Antonelli is already on the backfoot for the British GP

FIA announce Antonelli punishment after Verstappen clash

The full verdict announced by the FIA read: "The driver of Car 12 [Antonelli] locked up the rear brakes into Turn 3 and collided with Car 1 [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 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."

Antonelli's actions ruled Verstappen out of the race, but nevertheless, the Dutchman will have the chance to bounce back in Silverstone next weekend, whilst Antonelli will have his work cut out for him.

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Red Bull Max Verstappen FIA Kimi Antonelli Yuki Tsunoda Austrian Grand Prix