Verstappen: Red Bull F1 car the best it’s felt all season in Styrian GP

Verstappen claimed his third victory at the Red Bull Ring by over 30 seconds to extend his lead in the drivers’ championship to 18 points.

Reflecting on his emphatic performance in Austria, Verstappen said that his car was “super nice to drive”.

“Of course, important to have a good start, but then I think that first stint was all about managing the tyres a bit,” Verstappen said. “I could see that the pace was quite strong while looking after the tyres. It has sometimes been a bit different in previous races, we worked quite hard to make that better.

“Today that was very good. As soon as we stopped to go onto the Hards, honestly that was a really enjoyable stint to drive. Of course we had to go through a bit of traffic with like 12 cars in a row. But once we cleared them I could keep my pace quite consistent to the end. The car was super nice to drive, which is not always the case. Today I was really enjoying it.”

Verstappen was then asked if it was his most dominant victory of the season, where he replied: “Clearly the gap, yes. But also just the balance of the car, I think was the best so far this season.”

With another race at the Red Bull Ring next weekend as it hosts the Austrian Grand Prix, Verstappen expects the fight to be closer given that everyone has a better understanding of how their cars perform.

“I don’t know but I mean, people analyse everything now after the race. So for sure next weekend it will be a bit closer naturally, because you have a bit more understanding of what has been going on,” Verstappen added.

“Of course we have been using softer compounds, so that will be interesting to see, how to manage that. We have to wait and see with the weather as well, what’s going to happen. Clearly we had a good car this weekend and I hope that we will continue this form to next week.”