Rosberg claims true cause of Max Verstappen’s Dutch GP crash

Max Verstappen crashed out of the final Dutch Grand Prix in treacherous conditions, a shunt which came under the Nico Rosberg microscope.

Analysing the Verstappen crash footage, Rosberg, the 2016 world champion, spotted a different approach being taken to the final corner by Verstappen. This, in addition to being too trigger-happy on the throttle, explained Verstappen’s crash, to Rosberg’s mind.

Max Verstappen Dutch GP crash explained by Nico Rosberg

Verstappen’s last home race was over almost as quickly as it began at Zandvoort.

Through the banked final corner, with rain falling as the opening lap reached its end, Verstappen lost control of his Red Bull RB22, spearing into the wall.

It was a high-impact crash from which Verstappen thankfully walked away unhurt. The red flags were triggered, halting the race.

Verstappen, the four-time world champion, generally excels in the wet. Onboard footage from Verstappen’s Red Bull alerted analysts in this instance.

“It looks like he’s a bit tighter on the banking to me,” Sky F1’s Karun Chandhok claimed.

Rosberg agreed, and argued that the tighter line taken by Verstappen through that corner put him slightly at odds with the dry line.

That, coupled with Verstappen’s throttle application, sent him spinning, according to Rosberg.

Verstappen was not the only driver to get caught out. Audi’s Gabriel Bortoleto also went spinning through Turn 14, forcing his teammate Nico Hulkenberg into some rapid evasive action.

“First of all, it’s wet there. It’s wet/dry. It’s a mix of everything. It’s incredibly difficult,” Rosberg told Sky F1 of Verstappen’s crash.

“On slick tyres, to drive through this high-speed corner is the hardest thing in the world.

“Max is clearly tighter than everybody else, and when you look more closely, it looks like the dry patch is offset by like 50 centimetres from the inside.

“I think he just put a bit too much throttle down, and you’re gone.

“And look, he’s the greatest of the moment, greatest driver out there, one of the greatest of all time. That just goes to show how difficult it is out there in these conditions.”

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Verstappen said that he “got caught out” in the moment which triggered his incident.

“It was still quite wet in that corner, and then as soon as I saw the dry patch coming, I was like, now you can accelerate, but clearly that didn’t work,” he continued.

“So probably it was still a bit too early.”

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