Verstappen Baffled by ‘Undriveable’ Red Bull Car in Austrian Grand Prix
Reigning Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen was left scratching his head after his Red Bull car became “undriveable” during the Austrian Grand Prix, ultimately costing him an almost guaranteed win. Verstappen, who currently leads the Formula 1 standings, cruise-controlled to pole position with a four-tenth advantage and maintained a comfortable nine-second margin over Lando Norris in the opening stint.
However, as the second stint unfolded, Verstappen complained about minimal grip, and Norris began to close the gap. Red Bull’s sluggish response to Verstappen’s concerns and a painfully slow 6.5s stop allowed Norris to snap at the Red Bull’s heels. The pair eventually collided at Turn 3, handing both punctures and shattering their win hopes.
Verstappen, who was penalized but managed to salvage a fifth-place finish to extend his championship lead, described his Red Bull Ring outing as a “disaster.”
“I think the first stint was quite good, then at the end of that first stint, I caught quite a bit of traffic, we should have boxed, because I just gave up free lap time,” he said.
The Dutch driver was critical of his team’s strategy and pit stops, which he believed were subpar.
“We basically did a lot of things wrong today, I think starting with strategy, then the pit stops were a disaster, the first one was really bad, the second one even more of a disaster.”
Verstappen remained perplexed about his sudden loss of pace, unable to pinpoint why his car transformed from OK to “undriveable” behavior.
“Today was just very bad, I have no explanation why suddenly the car just transformed from an OK balance in the first stint to just undriveable behavior afterwards.”
Although Verstappen switched to a used Medium compound while Norris ran on new tyres, he dismissed the idea that tyre choice contributed to his pace drop.
“They both felt bad so I don’t think we did the wrong thing with the tyres,” he emphasized.
The reigning champion acknowledged that Red Bull’s execution was far from flawless, citing tyre issues, traffic, and questionable strategy.
“Yeah, because today has been awful, everything has been wrong. I’m complaining about the tyres, we didn’t pit, I was stuck in traffic, bad, bad execution with the pit stops, so everything just went wrong.”
Verstappen remains adamant that Red Bull needs to be perfect to win, warning that they will be beaten unless they rectify their mistakes.
“Everything needs to be perfect to win, we have done that well for a lot of races and today we did everything wrong and you put yourself in that position.”
This weekend’s Austrian Grand Prix has proven that even the reigning champion is not immune to errors, and Verstappen will be eager to bounce back in the next Formula 1 race. For now, he remains on top of the Formula 1 standings, but the competition is heating up, and Red Bull will need to regroup to maintain their lead.
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