Verstappen: Wind caused heavy F1 Austrian GP practice crash

The Red Bull driver was caught out at the high-speed right-hand final corner by the wind and was pitched around and backwards into the barriers, badly damaging the rear of the car in the process.

Other drivers, including Sebastian Vettel, had moments at the same corner during the wind-affected session.

Verstappen said he had spoken over the radio about the windy conditions prior to his crash. "I was already complaining [on] all my laps about the wind," said Verstappen.

"It had been really tricky, and [in] some places I was losing the rear."

Explaining his crash, Verstappen compared it to Valtteri Bottas, who ran wide at the Turn 6 bend before his Mercedes skated across the gravel into the outside wall.

Verstappen said: "I got into that corner and then suddenly you can see on the data that the rear turned around.

"This year, the cars, in general, are more sensitive to the wind, as you can also see with Valtteri [Bottas] who at one point just lost it.

"A crash can happen, unfortunately. But maybe it is a good thing because they will take the whole car apart and I will get some new parts."

Verstappen ended the second session ninth-fastest but says he had a decent baseline in the Red Bull.

"I was happy with my car," he said. "That is where I focus on, and it has been alright. We still have a lot of work to do. It can always be better in terms of balance and we will find out tomorrow."

Verstappen's team-mate Pierre Gasly ended up third quickest overall, ahead of world championship leader Lewis Hamilton.

Gasly, who is coming off the back of a disappointing French Grand Prix, was upbeat about his start to the weekend.

"I think it was quite good," he said. "From this morning in FP1, I felt quite good with the car.

"I managed to do what I wanted to do, and this was positive.

"In FP2, it was still the same. We looked good on the fastest times but I think there's more performance to get out of the package and we [are] still four tenths off of the Ferrari so we'll try to push.

"I'm sure we have a bit more time to come tomorrow. I think there's more work [to be done]."