Four-time world champion, Max Verstappen admits to costly mistake that capped a disappointing home weekend.

The rain shower around twenty-minutes before the start offered hope to Verstappen - and his thousands of adoring fans in the grandstands - that it might yet prove to be his day.

After all, this was his home race, at a track where he has won three times since its return to the calendar in 2021, and he's the 'rain master'.

But it was not to be... for, other than the fact that the rain had stopped and the majority of the track was now dry, at the end of the opening lap the local hero made an uncharacteristic mistake.

"I got caught out, it was still quite wet in that corner," he told reporters post-race. "As soon as I saw the dry patch coming, I was like, now you can accelerate, but clearly that didn't work, so probably it was still a bit too early.

"It caught me out, it's as simple as that," he added. "I tried to correct it but couldn't and then you hit the wall, and honestly it could have been a lot worse as there were a lot of cars behind me as well."

The crash came at the end of an opening lap which saw the Dutchman in a feisty battle with his ersatz teammate, Liam Lawson, in which the pair appeared to touch a couple of times.

"We are allowed to race, so I think that's normal," said Verstappen, while Lawson described it as "fun".

"I wish for more, but you need to be realistic this season," said Verstappen, as he looks ahead to Monza. "We are the fourth-fastest team, so it's not like walking up to Zandvoort and suddenly we can do some magic things.

"It's just how it is, other teams have brought upgrades, we haven't. When you're already on the back foot, it puts you even more on the back foot. So, there's nothing surprising, it's just the reality that we live in."

Prior to the race, the Red Bull driver admitted to suffering flu-like symptoms.

"Yeah, just not been feeling well," he said. "I'm looking forward to a week break where I can just recover also, because I really didn't feel good. I wish for more, but you need to be realistic this season. Hopefully in Monza we can be a little bit more competitive."

Check out our Sunday gallery from Zandvoort here.