Antonelli shows off F1 legend-like honour in courageous deed for Verstappen

At the start of the race, an unsuspecting Max Verstappen was taken out of contention by Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The young Italian rookie has now done the honourable thing.

On the run up to Turn 3, Antonelli braked much later than his rivals, shooting past Liam Lawson and Gabriel Bortoleto and collecting Max Verstappen, unawares of the Mercedes driver's actions.

On post race reactions it was made clear that the rear wheels in Antonelli's car had locked up, something that made Mercedes team principal doubt whether the incident had been Antonelli's fault, or the W16's systems. The Dutchman himself refused to respond harhsly to his Italian colleague after the incident.

Speaking to media present, including GPblog Antonelli clarified what he said to the Red Bull Racing driver after the incident: "I apologised to him and I will try to talk to him after just to explain, and to apologise once more. Just because I feel very sorry towards my team, because it's a mistake from my side. But as well I ended his race and this [is] definitely not what I want."

Antonelli apologises to Verstappen after race ending incident in Austria

Antonelli marches to the Red Bull garage to apologise for the incident in Austria

Speaking to F1TV Verstappen revealed Antonelli went to the Red Bull hospitality to speak about the incident. “It is what it is. I spoke quickly to Kimi, he came with me to the hospitality. I think every driver has made a mistake like that. No one does that on purpose as well so for me, that’s not a big deal.”