Max Verstappen after his crash — Photo: © LAT Images

Belgian Grand Prix

Verstappen explains latest Red Bull crash

Verstappen lost control and hit the barriers at Malmedy

Ewan Gale

Friday 27 August 2021 16:38

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen crashed out of second practice for the Belgian Grand Prix and sustained car damage for the third time in three race weekends.

In the British GP, Verstappen was involved in a 150mph, 51g shunt into a barrier after being tagged by Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton.

In the last race in Hungary, Verstappen was an innocent victim in an incident sparked by Hamilton's team-mate Valtteri Bottas.

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On this latest occasion, the accident was all of Verstappen's own making as he spun out of the exit of the Malmedy right-hander, rear-ending a barrier.

It led to the red flags being shown for the second time in the session after Charles Leclerc had crashed earlier in his Ferrari.

"I just lost the rear," explained Verstappen, who topped the session ahead of Bottas and Hamilton. "A bit too much oversteer to correct and unfortunately hit the wall."

Verstappen is using his third power unit of the season this weekend, with a penalty forthcoming if any additional components within it are required.

The crash adds to Red Bull's rising accident bill within the first season of the cost cap era.

Verstappen positive despite crash

Verstappen, who was second quickest in the opening session of the day, at least looks on track to bounce back from scoring just five points across two races ahead of the summer break to lose his championship lead to Hamilton.

"It was good," he added. "The whole day, we were quite happy. A few things to fine-tune from FP1 to FP2 and overall we were quite happy so definitely a very positive start."

Mercedes split downforce configurations across both cars during the first two sessions, running different rear wings.

But Verstappen revealed: "I didn't change anything on my car with the wings so I felt quite happy with what I had but a few things to take into consideration with the weather as well."