Verstappen explains tough afternoon: 'I couldn't follow the others' pace'

Verstappen doesn't understand disappointing Red Bull

"The beginning was not very good," began Verstappen. "I tried to keep up but I just ran out of tires. Everything was running hot and just struggled for grip, so then Lando got by, then Oscar got by, it started to rain. I had no grip as well there. I didn't want to take too much risk as well because it didn't feel good, it didn't feel comfortable."

He continued: "So I was like 'I'll just sit here and try to survive' and that's what I did. Then at one point even Carlos [Sainz] walked up to the party so I was like 'this is a really bad afternoon'. But then we just kept it on track, made the right calls from the slick to the inter and then from the inter back to the slick tire which just basically kept me in contention really. By making the right calls today we were there at the right time and to the end with the hard tire that was the right call for us definitely."

Where the poor race pace came from for the Austrian team, Verstappen - like his team principal Christian Horner - cannot explain. "Well, over one lap it didn't look too bad. I think it was just pace in the race. We just didn't have the pace. I couldn't follow the deg of the others. And that's something, of course, that we need to understand. I couldn't follow what they were doing in front of me and that's something of course that we need to to look at," Verstappen concluded.