Verstappen unable to keep up with dominant Hamilton in Austria

Max Verstappen was satisfied with third spot in the Styrian Grand Prix, despite losing second late in the day.

Verstappen was splitting the dominant Mercedes duo of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas, but his earlier stop left the Dutchman vulnerable to Bottas' late race pace, and damage to his front wing added to his troubles.

But after retiring from second spot at the same venue a week earlier, Verstappen said he was glad to bring his Red Bull Racing car home in third behind.

“We maximised the result with the podium and it’s of course good to be back up there," he said. "We were just too slow to really fight for the win.

"I pushed as hard as I could and tried everything to stay with Lewis but it just wasn’t possible. We have work to do and we will keep pushing as hard as we can to improve and I know how hard everyone is working.

"For me, it wasn’t the most exciting race up until I had a lap of fighting with Valtteri. My tyres were pretty dead at that point and I knew he was going to pass me, but I wasn’t going to make it easy and had a bit of fun re-passing him around the outside. I had nothing to lose as there was such a big gap behind so there was no risk.

"P3 is of course good points but it’s still not what we want, we want to fight for victories every weekend, so I hope Hungary is better for us. With less straights, we should hopefully have more chance and maybe it will be hotter than today. For now it’s time for everyone to have a few days to rest and re-set for next week.”

Team-mate Alex Albon brought home his Red Bull in fourth spot, surviving yet another Turn 4 incident, this time with Sergio Perez in the final laps.

He said: "Towards the end of the race, Perez was very quick. On the last lap he had a decent run on me into Turn 4 but I left him enough space. I think he ran a bit wide and we touched but we avoided a crash so it was ok and just hard racing."