Aug.24 (GMM) Max Verstappen has escaped injury after a heavy, almost head-on crash into the wall ended his final Dutch GP on the opening lap at Zandvoort.
The Red Bull driver lost control in the banked final corner on the partly wet track and hit the barrier at high speed, with part of the car also flying towards the marshal area.
Giedo van der Garde told Viaplay the impact was severe.
“It’s a mega-heavy crash,” he said. “You drive full like that against a concrete wall with 270 or 280kph. That’s a serious blow.”
“Fortunately, he’s ok and there’s nothing wrong with him. I spoke to his trainer for a while.
“He said he’s ok.”
Verstappen was taken to the medical centre for the mandatory checks and only spoke to the media much later, after watching much of the race.
“I just wanted to take a look at the race, so I took some time for that,” he explained.
Asked whether he was physically affected, he replied simply: “No.”
Verstappen said the car snapped unexpectedly as he approached the drying line. “There were a few lower than me,” he argued.
“The car broke out for me at a strange moment and then I couldn’t catch it anymore. Ultimately, it’s just my fault, but it was a weird moment.”
He later added: “It was quite a crash, but I’ve been through worse.”
“It can happen. I got caught off guard.”
“It was still pretty wet in that corner and as soon as I saw the dry patch approaching, I thought: now you can floor it. But that clearly didn’t work.”
The Dutchman had also been ill throughout the weekend, although he said he felt somewhat better on Sunday.
“Physically in any case,” Verstappen explained. “My nose is still blocked and I still have a bit of a cough.”
Team principal Laurent Mekies confirmed Verstappen is fit to race again at Monza.
“That’s the most important thing: Max is doing well,” said the Frenchman. “He will also be able to get back in the car next week.”
Mekies was less happy with Red Bull’s overall pace.
“It seems we’ve taken a step backwards, if you compare it to the races before the summer break. Session after session was more difficult than in Budapest, Spa, or Austria.”
“So we have some difficult work to do to repackage us.”
Stand-in teammate Liam Lawson at least salvaged P7, with Mekies praising his one-off return to the senior team.
“It’s never easy to get into another car of another team for one race,” he said. “He did a good job and was only one tenth behind Max in qualifying.”
Hadjar is meanwhile expected back for Monza.