Max Verstappen has said Red Bull’s 2026 Formula 1 Austrian Grand Prix upgrades have made him feel “really competitive” once again.
Verstappen missed out on winning his first F1 race since the 2025 Abu Dhabi GP by the slimmest of margins to George Russell, in Austria, on Sunday.
The Milton-Keynes-based team had brought a bevvy of upgrades to the RB22 for the race weekend, and it seems to have paid off massively for the Dutchman.
Despite a freak qualifying accident, that resulted in a hefty bang with the barriers for Verstappen, on Saturday, the 28-year-old drove a stellar 71-laps across the Red Bull Ring.
Verstappen was elated with how the car was performing, notwithstanding missing out on the outright race win by just 1.6 seconds at the chequered flag.
“I think what was satisfying is that this was the first time I felt like actually I could fight for the win,” he told media including Motorsport Week.
“The first half [of the race] I felt really good. I mean, I was closing the gap even after the battles that I had with Lewis, you know, it was cool.
“But it made us, of course, lose quite a bit of time, every time catching up.”
Verstappen also highlighted how a mid-race change in balance impeded his advances. “For whatever reason in the second half, something felt off on the rear of the car where everything was just extremely difficult from bumps, curbs, traction,” he added.
“It was just completely gone. So that’s something that we need to understand again what went wrong there.
“Something happened with the car on the rear axle, which made me lose pace and I just stayed there until the end.”
Max Verstappen hints at strategy decision that may have cost him F1 Austrian GP win
Verstappen’s future with Red Bull has been a hot topic of discussion given the team’s recent lack of competitiveness.
But the 28-year-old was all up in praise for the work the team had done to bring this upgrade package to track at Spielberg.
“To be that close to a win, I think is [a] great effort from the team,” Verstappen said.
“They have worked really hard to get these upgrades on the car here. And this is the first time I think in the race where I felt like really competitive and I could push a bit more.”
During the race, Verstappen’s pit wall was trying to create a tyre offset for the Dutchman to exploit against Russell. However, in hindsight, Verstappen surmised it did his race more harm than good.
“It’s always easy now to look back at it. I do think I had the deg over George, but I also knew that of course it was going to be a very long stint to the end. But we’ll look at it again,” he concluded.
“I mean, I felt, I personally felt like the laps that I stayed out, I probably lost a little bit too much compared to what I gained back of those extra laps on new tyres.
“But it’s easy to say now, I mean, we still had a very good race to be honest, you know, it’s been a pretty long road, you know, to be here and actually, yeah, to sit here, in the top three and have a real shot at it. That is, I think, already very positive.”
Focus for Verstappen and Red Bull will now quickly shift over to Silverstone for the 2026 British GP, next weekend.
READ MORE – George Russell resists Max Verstappen challenge in Austria to reignite F1 title hopes
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