‘We did everything wrong’ - Max Verstappen’s frustration at Red Bull explained
Max Verstappen admitted he was frustrated with Red Bull's execution of the Austrian Grand Prix.
SPIELBERG, AUSTRIA - Max Verstappen could not hide his frustration with Red Bull’s strategy and execution of the F1 Austrian Grand Prix, rueing that “everything just went wrong”.
The three-time world champion had appeared on course for a comfortable victory at the Red Bull Ring until a slow second pit stop left him under threat from McLaren’s Lando Norris.
Verstappen successfully repelled several attacks from Norris until the pair came to blows at Turn 3 on Lap 64, leaving both drivers with punctures and in need of repairs.
Norris was forced to retire while Verstappen was able to continue, finishing fifth as Mercedes’ George Russell capitalised on the drama to snatch an unlikely win.
Speaking after the race, the Dutchman admitted he believed Red Bull had made a number of mistakes at crucial points in Sunday’s 71-lap race.
“The first stint was quite good, then at the end of that I caught quite a bit of traffic - which we should have just boxed [to avoid], because I gave up free laptime,” Verstappen said.
“We basically did a lot of things wrong today. Firstly, it started with the strategy, then the pitstops were a disaster.
“The first one was already bad, the second one was even more of a disaster. And then of course you give free laptime. There’s seconds you give away, six seconds over those two pitstops.
“And then of course, it’s a race again. And that’s why we put ourselves in that position for unfortunately an accident to happen, which you never want to happen.
“We did everything wrong that we could have done wrong.”
Asked if he was more annoyed with Red Bull’s strategy and execution of the race than the incident with Norris, Verstappen replied: “Yes, because today’s just been awful. Everything has been wrong.
“I’m complaining about the tyres, we didn’t pit. I was stuck in traffic, bad execution with the pitstops. So everything just went wrong.”
Verstappen added: “Today was just very bad. I honestly have no explanation why.
“Suddenly the car just transformed from an OK balance in the first stint to just undriveable behaviour afterwards, which normally indicates that something was also wrong.
“But even with that, we should have won today if we didn’t make so many errors as well with the pitstops.”
