Verstappen surprised: 'Knew they were fast, but not that fast'

A home victory was not on the cards for Red Bull Racing at the Austrian Grand Prix. Nevertheless, Max Verstappen cannot be dissatisfied with the result, which saw him minimise the damage to Charles Leclerc.

"It wasn't a great race in that respect," he tells Viaplay. He adds that he suffered a lot of wear and tear and that it didn't really matter what tyres were screwed on. "It was a bit of the same problem every time."

He continued: "I couldn't attack during braking, I couldn't get on the gas, had no traction, and after just two laps on each stint, I lost a lot of speed. That's obviously not what you want." The championship leader has a clear conclusion for Red Bull's result during the race: the team just didn't have its day. "It feels a bit like an off-day," says the Dutchman.

As for Ferrari's pace, Verstappen was somewhat surprised. "Yesterday I saw they were pretty fast, I just didn't expect them to be this fast," he continued. Still, the reigning world champion can be satisfied with second place, especially considering the points he scored in the sprint race and the extra point for the fastest lap in the main race. "To only lose five points over the whole weekend in my opinion is not bad," Verstappen said.