Verstappen relishes having a car with race-winning potential again

Max Verstappen says Red Bull’s upgrades for the Austrian Grand Prix gave him the opportunity to fight for victory for the first time this season.

Red Bull introduced a major update package for its home race and looked competitive in qualifying before Verstappen crashed when fighting for pole position. Starting from fifth, he put pressure on George Russell and crossed the line within two seconds of the race winner to secure his best result of the season so far.

“I think what was satisfying is that this was the first time I felt like actually I could fight for the win,” Verstappen said. “I do think that the first half of the race, we were more competitive, because for whatever reason in the second half, something felt off on the rear of the car, where everything was just extremely difficult, from bumps, curbs, traction, it was just completely gone.

“So that’s something that we need to understand again, what went wrong there. But yes, the first half I felt really good. I mean, I was closing the gap even after the battles that I had with Lewis [Hamilton] – it was cool, but it made us of course lose quite a bit of time. So every time catching up. But then in the middle of the second stint, something happened with the car on the rear axle which made me lose pace, and that just stayed there until the end. So that’s a bit of a shame.

“But still, to be that close to a win I think is great effort from the team. They have worked really hard to get these upgrades on the car here, and this is the first time, I think, in the race where I felt really competitive and I could push a bit more. So that is definitely the positive of this weekend.”

Given the fine margins, Verstappen believes Red Bull could have been more aggressive with the timing of its final stop to try and stay closer to Russell.

“It’s easy now to look back at it. I do think I had the deg over George, but I also knew that it was going to be a very long stint to the end. But we’ll look at it again. I personally felt like the laps that I stayed out, I probably lost a little bit too much compared to what I gained back of those extra laps on new tires. But it’s easy to say now.

“We still had a very good race, to be honest. It’s been a pretty long road to be here and actually to sit here in the top three and have a real shot at it, that is I think already very positive.”