Max Verstappen says Red Bull realised they hadn’t got the best out of their package in the Austrian Grand Prix after their defeat to Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc won the last round at the Red Bull Ring, passing Verstappen early in the race and keeping his rival in check by running longer stints on his tyres.
Verstappen said the team’s post-race analysis revealed they could have prepared their RB18 better for the race.
“I think it was not only tyres-related,” said the championship leader. “Also the way we set up the car – not purely from set-up, also the package of the car – I think was not correct in Austria, which we found out.
“So I hope with the things we learned that in general I think we will be more competitive.”
As the last event was a sprint race weekend, teams only had a single hour of practice to dial their cars in before committing to their set-ups.
“It’s not ideal,” Verstappen acknowledged. “It’s quite hectic that weekend. We found out towards the end of the weekend that it was clearly not what we expected from the car.”
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Leclerc’s win allowed him to cut into Verstappen’s championship lead. Ferrari “were maybe a little bit stronger than we expected” in Austria, he admitted.
“But I think we were definitely below what we expected. And it’s always difficult to fight them because on a good day we have a good battle on our hands and we didn’t have a good day.
“So we have to just get back to at least normal. But I think of course in general we always want to improve, which we hope to show this weekend.”
Despite his points advantage and Red Bull’s lead in the constructors championship, Verstappen believes the team have largely trailled Ferrari on performance this year.
“So far there’s never really been like a dominant weekend for us,” he said. “In general I felt like in the beginning of the year we were the ones chasing and then trying to beat Ferrari. Then of course, they had a few retirements we took advantage of that, or through strategy calls.
“So I think overall we for my feeling, it’s still a bit of chasing. And the weight of the car, I mean, we’re still overweight, which is costing us a lap time as well.”
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2022 French Grand Prix
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