Verstappen credits Red Bull's Austria upgrades but blames rear-axle issues for missing first 2026 win

Max Verstappen took his best result of the 2026 season at the Austrian Grand Prix, finishing on the podium behind winner George Russell, but the four-time world champion admitted that rear-axle issues in the second half of the race denied him a first victory of the year.

Driving a heavily revised Red Bull RB22, Verstappen was competitive from the outset at Red Bull’s home circuit in Spielberg. A crash in the penultimate corner during qualifying left him fifth on the grid rather than the second or third place he had been on course for, but he recovered strongly in the race, engaging in an extended wheel-to-wheel battle with Ferrari’s Lewis Hamilton before clearing him and applying pressure to Russell at the front.

Verstappen delayed his final pitstop in an attempt to build a tyre advantage over Russell, a strategy that prompted the Mercedes driver to pit earlier than planned to avoid being undercut. However, Verstappen conceded he stayed out too long, losing more time than he gained on the fresh rubber.

“I personally felt that during the laps I stayed out I probably lost a little bit too much compared to what I gained back from those extra laps on new tyres,” Verstappen said. “But it’s easy to say now. We still had a very good race to be honest.”

Handling problems at the rear of the car compounded the strategic difficulty in the closing stages. Verstappen told his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase during the race that staying out was “not the right call”, and he stood by that assessment afterwards.

“In the first half of the race we were more competitive, because for whatever reason in the second half something felt off on the rear of the car,” he explained. “Everything was just extremely difficult from bumps, kerbs, traction — it was just completely gone.”

Despite the frustration, Verstappen was encouraged by the direction Red Bull have taken with their upgrades, noting it was the first time in 2026 he genuinely felt he could compete for a win.

“What was satisfying is that this was the first time I felt like actually I could fight for the win,” he said. “That’s a bit of a shame, but to be that close to a win I think is a great effort from the team. They have worked really hard to get these upgrades on the car here and this is the first time in the race where I felt really competitive and I could push a bit more.”

The result marks Verstappen’s second podium of the 2026 campaign, and his most competitive showing yet as Red Bull continue to close the gap to the leading Mercedes outfit.