Verstappen off pace in Austria with 'undriveable' car in qualifying

SPIELBERG, Austria (AP) — Max Verstappen felt his Red Bull car was “undriveable” as he found himself off the pace at his Formula 1 team’s home race.

A lack of grip and an unfortunately timed yellow flag both played a role as Verstappen placed seventh in qualifying at the Red Bull Ring, where he’s won five times, to further dent his hopes of defending the F1 title.

A frustrating day for Verstappen and the wider Red Bull team came amid widespread speculation over his future after Mercedes driver George Russell indicated on Thursday he believed Verstappen was in talks about a move.

“The car is completely undriveable. I have no grip,” Verstappen told the team over the radio part way through Saturday qualifying. Things got worse later on as he had to back off his final lap of the session because of a yellow flag.

Speaking to British broadcaster Sky Sports after the session, Verstappen indicated he believed his car was “miles off pole” set by McLaren’s Lando Norris, even without the yellow flag.

“Hopefully tomorrow we can at least be competitive with Ferrari or Mercedes,” Verstappen said. “I don’t know even, because with the balance we had in quali that’s for sure not going to look great for tomorrow, but we will analyze everything.”

Verstappen’s teammate Yuki Tsunoda was even less competitive as he qualified 18th and complained he, too, was lacking grip.

Norris said he and McLaren expected Red Bull “to be quicker here this weekend” after both teams brought upgraded parts to Austria, but said he wouldn’t write off Verstappen. Piastri leads Norris by 22 points in the standings with Verstappen third, 21 points further back.

“Max has been our main contender for every race this season,” Norris said. “Just because he’s had a slightly worse qualifying today, definitely not going to count him out of of the race tomorrow and definitely not going to count him out for the rest of the season.”