Nico Rosberg believes Max Verstappen was extremely fortunate that his dramatic opening-lap crash at the 2026 Dutch Grand Prix did not develop into a much more serious accident. The Red Bull driver lost control at Zandvoort while the field was still closely packed together, bringing his final home Grand Prix to an abrupt end.
The race had only just begun and the drivers were completing the opening lap when chaos suddenly unfolded towards the back of the field. Max Verstappen crashed heavily at Zandvoort, initially triggering yellow flags before the race was stopped with a red flag.
Nico Rosberg explains why Max Verstappen was lucky at Zandvoort
Fortunately, no other driver became directly involved in Max Verstappen’s accident. Gabriel Bortoleto also spun his Audi in the same sequence of events but managed to avoid the Red Bull and continue his race. Gabriel Bortoleto was fortunate himself, as Audi team-mate Nico Hulkenberg arrived immediately behind him and only narrowly avoided hitting the Brazilian.
It made for an exceptionally chaotic opening lap, with several cars finding themselves in a potentially dangerous situation but, crucially, without any consequences for the drivers involved.
Speaking on Sky Sports F1 after the Dutch Grand Prix, Nico Rosberg stressed just how fortunate Max Verstappen had been.
“They’re all here cheering for him, and then to see him go out so early. But unfortunately, those were the conditions,” Nico Rosberg said.
“It’s really an achievement in conditions like that, especially on slick tyres, to understand where the grip limit is. And so even the number one at the moment, the strongest driver on track, ended up having a really nasty crash.”
According to Nico Rosberg, the biggest danger was not necessarily Max Verstappen’s initial impact, but what could have happened if the four-time world champion had remained stranded on the racing line with the rest of the field approaching at high speed.
“And as Max said, we were really lucky here, because if you spin and remain stationary in the middle of the track while the pack is approaching at full speed, you risk a huge accident with cars crashing into you. It could have had a really dramatic outcome, so he was actually very lucky,” Nico Rosberg added.
Max Verstappen’s final Dutch GP ends almost immediately
It was a deeply disappointing home race for Max Verstappen, whose final Formula 1 Dutch Grand Prix weekend ended much earlier than he had hoped. Zandvoort will no longer feature on the calendar from next season, making the early retirement particularly painful after the Red Bull driver had previously paid tribute to his Dutch supporters ahead of the final race.
Max Verstappen therefore left his home weekend with only three points, earned through sixth place in the Sprint Race. He currently sits sixth in the Drivers’ Championship with 112 points, 130 behind championship leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Immediately after his retirement, Max Verstappen spoke to Sky Sports F1 about the accident and the challenges ahead. The Dutchman said he was looking forward to the remaining races and would continue trying to extract everything possible from the car in an effort to recover ground on his rivals.
Max Verstappen admits Red Bull is Formula 1’s fourth force
At the same time, Max Verstappen offered a realistic assessment of Red Bull’s current competitiveness and acknowledged that the team has generally been only the fourth-fastest force during the season.
“I mean, if you look at the average, throughout the whole season we’ve been the fourth force on track,” Max Verstappen said. “So I think this weekend highlighted that quite clearly: we’re definitely a little bit behind. We want to be closer. Maybe at Monza we will be, but I don’t know.”
With the 2026 campaign moving towards its closing stages, attention inside Red Bull is also beginning to shift towards what can be improved for next season.
“We’re getting closer to the end of the season, and you also have to start looking at next season,” Max Verstappen explained. “I think there are several areas of the car that we’re working on and that can be changed next year to really find some performance.”
His position in the championship and the remaining gap to Andrea Kimi Antonelli can be followed in the latest Formula 1 driver standings.
For now, however, Max Verstappen knows Red Bull must work with the package it currently has and attempt to maximise every opportunity during the remaining rounds of the 2026 Formula 1 calendar.
“So we’ll simply try to get the maximum we can out of this car. But it won’t be an easy end to the season. Nevertheless, we’ll try to do our best for the best possible result,” Max Verstappen concluded.
Leave a Reply