Max Verstappen (Red Bull Racing): “This is what needs to happen for us to win”

What a sight that was! Max Verstappen had the Orange Army in raptures: In recent years, the Red Bull Ring has often turned into one huge, raucous party for the Red Bull Racing star’s fun-loving fans – five pole positions, five Grand Prix victories, four at the Austrian Grand Prix and one at the Styrian Grand Prix.

But in 2026, things are a little different: Red Bull Racing is struggling and often finds itself in fourth place behind Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren. Even Max Verstappen’s magic behind the wheel does little to change that.

Ahead of the first day of practice at the Red Bull Ring, the four-time Formula 1 champion says: “We’ve brought improvements to Austria; we want to close the gap on the front-runners. We know why we’re lagging behind; now it’s a matter of addressing these weaknesses. In Spain, it felt as though we were the fourth-strongest team. We’re not happy with that. The gap in Spain was considerable; I hope things go better here.”

One of the weak points: the starts. Max continued: “You only have to look at how I get off the line in 2026. That’s definitely one of the areas we need to work on. It’s all about the finer points of the balance between the power unit and the clutch, which we need to get right.”

What other areas need to be looked at? “We’ve already talked about the fact that we’re not particularly good in fast corners. Beyond that, there are little issues everywhere – balance, weight, engine power, downforce, how the car handles on kerbs. It all plays a part.”

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Is the pace of development insufficient? Verstappen continues: “We’ve halved the gap from the first part of the season. That’s positive. But that’s also the easy part of the task. The difficult part is making up the other half; especially as our rivals are constantly developing too. So we have to do more than our rivals to start winning races again.”

“I don’t know if we’ll ultimately manage it. What I do see, however, is that the team is working flat out to ensure we have a better race car.”

As for the alleged problem of heat for the drivers, the four-time champion can only smile: “It’s hot – so what? These cars aren’t physically very demanding. In any case, I still won’t be wearing a cooling vest in the race car – I don’t like all those cables. I’ll put on a cooling vest before the race, and that’ll have to do. I’ve had hot races before, and it was hot here in Austria a year ago too.”