Rosberg warns Verstappen's Dutch GP crash could have triggered a massive multi-car pile-up

Max Verstappen’s first-lap crash at the Dutch Grand Prix could have ended in a catastrophic multi-car shunt, 2016 world champion Nico Rosberg warned after the race at Zandvoort. The four-time champion spun off in damp conditions on slick tyres, triggering a red flag and ending his home race before it had barely begun.

“As Max said, we really got lucky there,” Rosberg explained, “because if he spins and remains in the middle of the track and you have the whole pack coming at full speed, that could be a multi-car massive shunt with people driving right into him. That could have been a really bad outcome, so he even got a bit lucky there.”

Rosberg was sympathetic to the difficulty of the conditions, noting that even the best driver in the field can be caught out. “It’s just so incredibly hard in those conditions and especially on the slick tyre to judge the limit of the grip there,” he said, “and so even the greatest of the moment, the greatest driver here, had a big crash.”

Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto spun separately behind Verstappen in an unrelated incident but managed to continue. No other driver was directly caught up in Verstappen’s crash.

The incident left Verstappen with just three points from the weekend — earned via a sixth-place finish in the sprint race. He now sits sixth in the drivers’ championship with 112 points, a substantial 130 points adrift of leader Kimi Antonelli.

Speaking after his early exit, Verstappen was candid about Red Bull’s current competitiveness, acknowledging the team is operating as the fourth-fastest outfit on the grid. “If you look at the average, the whole season we have been fourth fastest,” he said. “So I think this weekend really highlighted that, so we’re definitely a little bit behind.”

With the season entering its final stretch, Verstappen indicated that some of the car’s fundamental issues cannot be resolved until next year. “There are a few things in the car that we are looking at that can only be changed next year to really find a lot more performance,” he said. “So we will just try to maximise everything we can with this car. But it’s not going to be the most straightforward end to the season.”