The Red Bull Racing man was close to bringing his first win of the season back to Milton Keynes

Max Verstappen came up just a few laps short of his first victory of the season in Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix.

In the first of back-to-back home races for Red Bull Racing, Verstappen crossed the line second, within touching distance of Mercedes’ George Russell, who claimed his first win since the opening race of the season, but just out of reach of championship leader Kimi Antonelli in third.

The Dutchman had a thrilling battle with Lewis Hamilton in the early stages, with the pair trading blows before the four-time champion got the better of the Ferrari driver, mounting a challenge to close the gap to the Brit out in front.

Russell though had the measure of Verstappen, keeping him at arm’s length but it was not as simple as that. Verstappen stopped later than the Mercedes in the final stint, and closed an 11-second gap down to just 1.6 by the chequered flag, but he was coming under increased pressure from behind by an ever-later stopping Antonelli, who closed within two seconds on the final lap.

“It was a very good race for us,” Verstappen said afterwards. “The first two laps were quite fun and the first half felt really good and fun to drive. Then it was basically just about trying to manage our tyres, especially after the battles with Lewis.

“In hindsight we could have done the undercut to jump ahead and I think I had the degredation edge over George but overall I am pleased with P2.

“We did some good racing and I didn’t expect us to be that strong against the Mercedes. It was a great effort from the team: they have worked really hard to get the upgrades to the car so thank you very much to everyone.

“It was better than expected and the race pace was a lot better than we thought. I didn’t think we would fight for the win when I jumped in the car this morning, so to finish sitting here in the top three is a really positive result for us.”