Verstappen confirms cause of Austria crash

Max Verstappen confirmed that he was caught out by a gust of wind when he crashed during Friday's FP2 session in Austria.

Verstappen wrecked the rear-end of his Red Bull, losing considerable track time in the process, after losing his car at Turn 10 in Spielberg and clattering backwards into the barriers.

Valtteri Bottas also damaged his car considerably in a later crash, while Sebastian Vettel avoided serious damage after spinning at the same spot as Verstappen.

The Dutchman said: "I was already complaining all my laps about the wind. It had been really tricky, and some places I was losing the rear.

"I got into that corner and then suddenly you can see on the data that the rear turned around. This year, the cars in general are more sensitive to the wind, as you can also see with Valtteri who at one point just lost it.

"A crash can happen unfortunately. But maybe it is a good thing because they will take the whole car apart and I will get some new parts."

Max Verstappen clatters into the barriers at Turn 10 #AustrianGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/C76fPeBnL7

— Formula 1 (@F1) June 28, 2019

The slew of incidents stopped many teams from completing qualifying simulations, while Verstappen obviously had little chance to truly test himself over a single lap.

However, he will take confidence heading into Saturday from his limited track time.

"It was in general when I look with myself, I was happy with my car. That is where I focus on, and it has been alright.

"We still have a lot of work to do. It can always be better in terms of balance and we will find out tomorrow."

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