Verstappen saw a more competitive Ferrari car: 'Just wasn't really a fight'

Ferrari was in a better position in the Austrian Grand Prix than before, but according to Max Verstappen, there was no real fight with the Italian team yet.

Charles Leclerc finished second in Sunday's race, while Carlos Sainz completed the top three in Saturday's sprint race. Verstappen had the two Ferraris in his wake on the grid for the main race, but soon disappeared on the horizon.

Although Ferrari was competitive, the SF-23 did not have the pace to keep up with Verstappen's RB19. "When you speak to Carlos or speak to Charles, it was not really a fight. I mean we have more pace in general and I had better tyres so it was a bit like last year where it was the other way around," the Dutchman explains to Sky Sports.

He continued: "I was doing a different strategy but it was not really a fight because I couldn't really fight, because you just don't have the pace so for me I just had to be a bit careful not to run into trouble or lose too much time, just try to focus on your own race."