Verstappen: Red Bull needs performance ‘step up’ for more wins

Max Verstappen says Red Bull needs a “step up” in performance to achieve more wins during the 2019 Formula 1 season, despite scoring a breakthrough victory at the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Dutchman recovered from a poor start to charge through the field and pull off a late overtake on Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc to snatch victory in Spielberg, handing Honda its first grand prix win since 2006.

Asked how it feels to have an engine that can win a race, Verstappen said: “Well I think we still need to work hard.

“Of course it’s a race victory but it doesn’t mean that we are suddenly the dominating team. We still need to step up our performance a bit more.

“It’s just when you have a good car you can do it,” he added. “It’s very simple. I think I’ve had many races where I think I got the most out of it but maybe that’s P5 or P6.

“Now you win the race but it’s just because the car is working well, the engine is working well, I had a good tyre management and of course when you have a good car it’s easier to look after the tyres.

“In France I was too slow but I was just trying to keep up with the Ferraris and I went through my tyres. In Austria it was the other way around, I had looked after my tyres initially and then had tyres at the end of the race. It is very car dependent.

“I always try to do the best I can and I think there are many races where you extracted the most out of it but it doesn’t really show because it was only P5, for most of the people they don’t really recognise it.

“Of course it was a good race but it always makes it a bit easier when you have a good car to do it.”

And Verstappen does not feel a repeat of Red Bull’s success in Austria will be possible at this weekend's British Grand Prix. 

“We need 40 degrees outside, that normally works quite well,” he explained. “As a driver you would always like more top speed, more grip, it’s pretty simple.

“Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to create but we keep working. I think we were just a lot faster.

“We didn’t have much of a cooling issues compared to Mercedes and cornering-wise I think we were more competitive than Ferrari so I wasn’t actually losing time behind them and then you get the DRS effect. In the second stint our pace was a lot better than them."