Max Verstappen has defended Sebastian Vettel over his race-ending crash while leading the German Grand Prix.
Vettel was in full control of the race at the Hockenheimring up until the rain period, leading Valtteri Bottas by nearly nine seconds. The German then lost control of his Ferrari into the stadium section, ending the race in the barriers in front of his home crowd and ultimately handing title rival Lewis Hamilton an unlikely victory.
Verstappen is no stranger to criticism himself having being scrutinised for his own errors earlier in the year and the Dutchman was quick to defend the Ferrari driver.
"It was super tricky out there, especially in that corner," Verstappen replied when asked of Vettel's crash. ''Even if you experience the slightest lock up there, you immediately go off. These were very difficult circumstances. So things like this can happen.
"Well, mistake... these were difficult circumstances. It could have happened to someone else just as easily. You just try to find good grip everywhere, but you don't want to take too many risks because you already have some good points in the bag. You don't want to risk losing those by going off. Dealing with that risk is very difficult. If you lock up for just a moment, you fly off the track."
Verstappen finished fourth with his slim chances of finishing on the podium ending with Red Bull's failed gamble to switch to the intermediates.
"It just didn't go our way," Verstappen added. "Normally I pray for rain, but this time it didn't help me. Fourth was the best possible. It really started to rain heavily. The rain spread towards Turns 8 and 10, so I thought, 'if it continues like this, then it's also going to come to the third sector'.
"Unfortunately that wasn't the case. So then I had to pit again. I took a gamble and it didn't work out."