Verstappen loses ground in title race after first-lap retirement in Austria

30/06/25 Rhonan Colquhoun 23:35pm

Reigning Champion Max Verstappen lost valuable points and now seems to have become a distant title threat after the Dutchman retired on the opening lap of the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver failed to see the chequered flag for the first time this season after being taken out of the race in a collision with Mercedes driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli who’s race also came to a premature end.

Verstappen, who’s final lap in qualifying was interrupted by yellow flag conditions, started further down the grid then expected in seventh place and found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time when the race-ending clash happened.

The Italian ploughed into the rear of the Four-Time world Champion at turn 3 after locking his rear brakes thus losing the rear of his car sending the out-of-control Mercedes into Verstappen’s path.

Antonelli, who took full responsibility for the incident, apologised to the Red Bull driver and has been handed a three-place grid penalty for this weekend’s British Grand Prix as well as two penalty points on his license.

The race was dominated by Verstappen’s Championship rivals as Lando Norris led home a McLaren one-two finish ahead of points leader Oscar Piastri.

As a result of his non-finish, Verstappen remains third in the championship but now falls to 61 points adrift of Piastri.

Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner reflected on a difficult day, stating that Verstappen was “desperately unlucky” and that there was a chance of a podium finish for his star driver.

Sharing his thoughts on Instagram, Horner said: “It’s a shame, I don’t think we would have been racing the McLaren’s today, but we would have been racing the Ferrari’s pretty hard.”

Verstappen’s retirement also meant that Red Bull didn’t score any points at their home event with the team reliant on the Dutchman as Yuki Tsunoda’s struggles continued.

The Japanese driver, who was knocked out of Q1, had a messy race to his 16th place finish which included a clash with Alpine’s Franco Colapinto that Tsunoda was deemed to be at fault an received a time penalty for.

Horner said:” It was a horrible race for us. With Yuki, it was again not a great race. He had damage to the front wing, a penalty and so on. Unfortunately for us, it was a weekend to forget.”

Red Bull now also lie a distant challenger in the Constructor’s Championship with the Milton Keynes outfit in a lonely fourth – just shy of 50 points behind Mercedes and Ferrari while McLaren extend their lead at the top to over 200 points clear of the Scuderia.