After the Austrian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen complained about the heavy tire wear on the RB18. The Dutchman started from pole position, but was unable to match the pace of the Ferrari drivers, which is why it was only second place for the world champion in the end.
“We simply had too much tire wear, and that on every tire,” Verstappen analyzed after the race. “I didn’t expect that, but that’s how it is sometimes. It’s important that we analyze everything now, but still being second on a bad day is good.”
Red Bull motorsport consultant Helmut Marko, the disappointment about the missed home win for the team is to be noted: “After the actual superiority on Friday and Saturday, this came as a surprise. We were exposed to such a degradation with the first three sets of tires that we can’t explain.”
Marko: Verstappen was two laps short of victory
“And it’s all the more astonishing that our pace and tire temperature were right with the last set. I hope we can sort that out, but we’re satisfied with second place because we also have the fastest lap. So the damage limitation is in frame remained.”
At the end of the race it almost got tight again because Leclerc was struggling with a problem with the accelerator pedal in front of him, but Verstappen himself had problems there too, as he says: “I saw that he no longer had the pace he had before. But we still had too much tire wear, so in the end I couldn’t push myself at all.”
Marko sees it a little differently than his driver: “With the last set of tires we were faster than Ferrari again and I think he was [Leclerc] drove to the limit.” When asked how many laps Verstappen would have needed to win the race, the motorsport consultant said: “Two!”
Verstappen was overtaken three times by Leclerc on the track in the Austrian race. “It was just a difficult day,” summed up the Dutchman. “I noticed right from the start that we were having problems with the tires and that continued throughout the entire race. The wear and tear was just too high to attack Charles.”