Max Verstappen's race as well as Andrea Kimi Antonelli's ended prematurely with a first lap crash. Mercedes' team boss and CEO Toto Wolff sahres his views on the incident. On the run up to Turn 3 Antonelli came in out of control overshooting two cars ahead of him at the braking point and crashing into the back of Verstappen ending his race as well as the Dutchman's.
Responding to a question by GPblog after the race, regarding the incident, the Austrian said. "These mistakes happen. The wheels locked in the car. I'm not entirely sure if it was his fault or the system’s."
"I haven't seen any data nor did I hear anything because obviously we were concentrating on the race. But that happens. Unfortunate for Max and Red Bull that Kimi hit him."
'Crashes, a part of F1'
Speaking on Kimi Antonelli's reaction to the incident with Verstappen on regarding the exchange the team boss shared with his driver, Wolff said: "Yeah, he came into the garage quickly and I said, ‘well that wasn't great’, which he obviously knew."
"But, like I said, the tyres just locked [up]. But again, there's margin for error in our business. It's a shame that Max [DNF'd], that we took another car out with us. But that can happen to the great ones, to the inexperienced ones, to the experienced ones. It's just part of Formula 1," the team principal concluded.
Regarding a potential apologetic text to Horner, Wolff didn't acknowledge or reply to the question.
Regarding Max Verstappen's potential transfer to Mercedes and the deadline set for the Dutchman
to decide on whether or not he'll make the switch to the German team, Wolff's statements can be read
here.