Max Verstappen spoke of the โextremely positiveโ Austrian Grand Prix as the Red Bull driver finished Sundayโs race behind winner George Russell.
Verstappen started from fifth position in the 71-lap Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring after crashing during his final attempt in qualifying, but the four-time world champion soon began to improve.
The Dutchman made short work of Kimi Antonelliโs Mercedes and Charles Leclercโs Ferrari at Turn 4 on lap two and took the lead from Lewis Hamilton on lap 22 after the first round of pit stops.
Verstappenโs pace brought him within striking distance of Russell to take the lead, but a longer layoff before the final pit stop meant he had too much work to do in the final stint and was 1.6 seconds behind at the checkered flag.
โI think it was certainly a very good race for us,โ said Verstappen, who had his best result of the season so far in second place.
โThe first few laps were pretty fun and then it was about managing the tires and to be honest I think the car was in a pretty good window for half the race I would say.
โThen we had, shall we say, a few problems with the car that prevented me from finding that good rhythm. But, nevertheless, being second and being close to winning, I think, is extremely positive for us. So in that sense Iโm very happy.โ
Red Bull arrived at Spielberg this weekend with a host of upgrades that appeared to make the RB22 competitive with Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren.
Verstappenโs Red Bull teammate Isak Hajjar also had a productive Sunday, with the Frenchman finishing sixth ahead of Leclerc and McLarenโs Lando Norris from his original starting position, declaring that โthe updates definitely took a toll this weekend, you could feel it.โ
โI think in eighth place that was about the best we could do,โ Hajjar said. โI think we had a car that finished fourth, but from eighth you have to be aggressive, pit early, I was running out of tires at the end of every stint.โ