Max Verstappen admitted he underestimated Ferrari's pace in Austria, but also said that Red Bull was not at its best
Max Verstappen had the crowd, the good RB18 and the great results to take his seventh win of the season - which would be the seventh of 11 races, to also confirm his dominance in 2022. Only he himself admits that he underestimated Ferrari, a team that showed excellent pace throughout the weekend. Charles Leclerc's F1-75 was responsible for stopping a Dutchman's triumph at the Red Bull Ring.
And it was once again an excellent battle between the young drivers. Throughout the race, the Monegasque overtook Max three times, who made it clear that he did not expect such good pace from the Italians, especially on a track historically dominated by the Taurinos.
"I expected them to be strong, I just didn't expect them to be so good [in terms of pace]," Verstappen admitted at a press conference, "And I think we were a little bit below what we expected," he added.
The defending champion blamed high tire wear as a hindrance to fighting for victory - something Red Bull itself had already predicted throughout the weekend. "It was a little bit harder than I expected," he acknowledged.
"Basically, I was fighting hard for pace in any compound. It's something I can't explain right now, we need to analyze, because I think we're usually fine on tires. I expected it to be difficult, but I didn't expect it to be like this," he followed.
Leclerc took the 25 points for the win and jumped to 170 points for the season. The gap to Verstappen is still high, at 38 points, but at least it is a reason for hope. Max need not leave Red Bull's home race desolate, as he was second, won the sprint race and finished with the fastest lap of the race. All in all, he scored only five points less than the Monegasque and has 208.
"Even on a bad day, let's say an 'off day', losing only five points for the whole weekend is good," he closed.