F1 News: Max Verstappen Addresses Oscar Piastri Crash To Avoid Escalation

Saajan Jogia | Dec 8, 2024

Pole position qualifier Max Verstappen of the Netherlands and Oracle Red Bull Racing looks on in parc ferme during qualifying ahead of the F1 Grand Prix of Belgium at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps on July 27, 2024 in Spa, Belgium. / Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli/Getty Images

Red Bull driver Max Verstappen revealed that he apologized to Oscar Piastri for the incident on the opening lap at Turn 1 of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix to ensure no "weird feelings" were carried forward into the winter break, and potentially into the next season. The Dutchman said that he wanted to de-escalate the matter considering Piastri is a friend of his.

This comes amid his clash with Mercedes driver George Russell, which is ongoing from the Qatar Grand Prix and peaked during the Abu Dhabi race weekend, where Russell alleged that Verstappen had threatened to put him on his "f****** head in the wall."

The argument spilled over to a conflict between Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff and Red Bull team principal Christian Horner, who also used the media as a medium to call each other out. This backdrop may have influenced Verstappen's decision to address and de-escalate the situation promptly, preventing it from spiraling into another major controversy.

The incident occurred when Verstappen exploited a gap on the inside line of Turn 1 but ended up making contact with Piastri's McLaren MCL38. Though it was the tires of both cars that bore the brunt, the impact was hard enough to cause both cars to spin out. This in turn ruined the Australian driver's P2 start. Verstappen, meanwhile, was awarded a ten-second penalty.

The 58-lap race eventually saw many DNFs and penalties, leading Piastri to finish in P10 while the Dutchman finished sixth. Verstappen appeared furious after serving the penalty as he was heard telling his team on the radio in a sarcastic tone, "Can we get 20 seconds too? Stupid idiots!" However, post-race, he apologized to Piastri for the incident with the aim of closing the matter at the Yas Marina Circuit. Explaining the incident and the events that followed, the four-time world champion said:

“Launch was good, and then I tried to grab the inside and I quickly realised, once I committed to it, that the gap was closing and I wanted to try and get out of it, because I didn’t want to, naturally, of course, crash with Oscar.

“But unfortunately, we still clipped each other – but I already apologised to Oscar.

“It’s not what you want to happen, and especially not with him. He’s a great guy, but it happened. It’s just bit unfortunate.

“Honestly, I don’t want to talk about it. I’m just happy that the season is over.

“For me, the most important thing that I had to do was just apologise to Oscar, because I have nothing to gain, nothing to lose – I went for it, it didn’t work out.

“Especially also for him, you know that we both spun. It’s not nice. He’s a friend of mine, so I don’t want to have any, like, weird feelings or whatever going into the break.”