Verstappen: Crash a direct result of engine problem

The Dutchman had briefly got ahead of pole position man Lewis Hamilton at the Mugello start from third on the grid, before his engine suddenly lost power.

That dropped him back into the pack by the time they had exited Turn 1, and on the entry to Turn 2 he was involved in an incident involving Kimi Raikkonen, Pierre Gasly and Romain Grosjean.

Speaking on the team radio as his race ended in the gravel, Verstappen despite it as a 'shitshow.'

With an engine problem having put Verstappen out of the Italian Grand Prix last weekend, the Dutchman said he was "really not happy" about another mechanical problem, which had first surfaced on the laps to the grid.

"It was not idling and I had an anti-stall on the formation lap as well, just idling," said the Dutchman to TV reporters.

"I had a good launch and went around Lewis. I had a better launch that Valtteri, but once I went flat out, the engine had a similar problem to what we had at Monza.

"We had no power there and you get into a situation where you are in the middle of the pack. Then it's easy to get involved in the middle of a crash. I don't even know what happened."

Asked if he was frustrated at being put out so early by that, Verstappen said: "We should not even have been in that position. It is really frustrating that we had another retirement.

"But it is what it is. I am really not happy at the moment, but I can't change it."

Pierre Gasly, who was involved in the incident with Verstappen, said the crash had been triggered by everyone trying to fight for the same piece of track.

"Too many cars in one place," he told Sky. "It was quite messy into Turn 1 and then Turn 2. I was in between (Kimi) and Grosjean and I just suddenly got sandwiched in the middle, and we collided in the middle pretty much."