Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies has reassured fans that Max Verstappen escaped injury following his dramatic crash during qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, while also accepting full responsibility for the incident and offering an apology to the four-time world champion.
Verstappen’s hopes of securing a stronger grid position came to an abrupt end in the final moments of Q3 when he lost control of his RB22 through Turn 9. The Dutchman slid into the gravel before making heavy contact with the barriers, bringing his qualifying session to an early finish. Despite the frightening impact, Verstappen climbed out of the car under his own power and was immediately confirmed to be unhurt.
Speaking after the session, Mekies stressed that the team’s biggest relief was seeing Verstappen walk away safely.
“The most important thing after such an eventful qualifying session is that Max is okay,” Mekies said. “He produced an excellent first lap in Q3, and on his final attempt he was on course for another very competitive lap before the accident happened.”
The Red Bull boss explained that the team has already identified the likely cause of the crash, revealing that the car suddenly lost rear aerodynamic performance, leaving Verstappen with almost no opportunity to recover control.
“The dynamics of the incident were quite unusual,” Mekies added. “We experienced a sudden loss of rear aero performance, and from that moment Max had virtually no chance of saving the car. As a team, we accept full responsibility for what happened and apologise to him.”
Earlier in qualifying, Verstappen had already faced a tense moment in Q2. Red Bull chose not to send him out for a second flying lap, leaving him vulnerable as he narrowly progressed to the final session by just 0.040 seconds ahead of Pierre Gasly.
Mekies admitted it was a calculated gamble, but insisted the decision was made with Sunday’s race firmly in mind.
“Choosing not to send Max back out in Q2 was certainly a risk,” he explained. “However, we decided to use only three new sets of soft tyres throughout qualifying because we wanted to preserve more strategic options for the Grand Prix.”
Despite the setback, Verstappen will still line up fifth on the grid for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix, with Red Bull hoping a strong race strategy can help him recover after a dramatic and disappointing qualifying session.
