Max Verstappen: “Second place is very positive” – but did the team throw away the win?

Max Verstappen missed out on his fifth victory at the Austrian Grand Prix by just 1.6 seconds. The Dutchman crossed the finish line in second place in a thrilling World Championship race at the Red Bull Ring, but it wasn’t quite enough to beat George Russell.

After securing the 129th podium finish of his Grand Prix career, the Red Bull Racing star said: “That was a good race for us. The first few laps were great fun; after that, I tried to look after the tyres as best I could.”

“In the first half of the race, we managed to get the car into a great operating window, but then a few minor issues crept in. That prevented me from maintaining the high pace from the first part.”

“Nevertheless, we can be very satisfied with this race. I mean, we started from fifth on the grid and finished second, just behind the winner – that’s extremely positive for us. I’m really pleased with that.”

In the middle section, Red Bull Racing perhaps waited a little too long for the final tyre change; during that phase, Max lost a good ten seconds to Russell. Perhaps RBR waited too long there. But, as we all know, everyone’s a genius with hindsight.

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The fact is: the recent improvements are paying off; Verstappen was able to put a Mercedes under considerable pressure and beat the championship leader – that bodes well for the upcoming races.

After Saturday’s crash, the Dutchman was clearly in pain. How did he cope during the race? Max: “I’d banged my knees on impact. But I didn’t think about it during the race.”