Nico Rosberg on Max Verstappen: “The reason for his Zandvoort crash”

The Dutch fans couldn’t believe their eyes: their idol Max Verstappen, of all people, was out shortly after the start of the Zandvoort Grand Prix – a nasty crash on the banked Luyendyk bend before the entrance to the start-finish straight.

German driver Nico Rosberg watched the action unfold in the dunes by the North Sea and can only explain Verstappen’s rare mistake in this way.

“If we look at the on-board footage, we can see that Max is taking an extremely tight line on the right-hand side,” said the 41-year-old from Wiesbaden. “But you have to bear in mind that the track was still wet in places following the earlier downpours. Dry in most places, damp in others, and still wet in others – a mixture of everything – and that makes it extremely difficult for a driver to gauge the track’s grip.”

Nico Rosberg

Foto: XPB

The 23-time GP winner knows from his own experience: “Riding through high-speed corners on slick tyres with no tread, in these track conditions, is the hardest thing in the world.”

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“Max is clearly taking the line much tighter there than anyone else, and if you look even more closely, it looks as though the dry patch is offset by about 50 centimetres from the inside. I think Verstappen didn’t just position the car very aggressively there; he probably also simply went on the throttle a bit too early or too hard – and that was that.»

“We’re talking here about the best Formula 1 driver of the present day, one of the best Grand Prix drivers of all time. And even he’s now had this happen to him. To me, that’s proof of just how tricky the conditions were at that moment.”