Max Verstappen has admitted his team cannot afford a “messy” weekend if they want to keep winning in Formula 1. The same goes for the tight margin between Red Bull and McLaren ahead of this weekend's Austrian Grand Prix.
Since winning the Miami Grand Prix in early May, Verstappen and Lando Norris have battled for wins in four of the last five races since the field was closed.
Ferrari and Mercedes had a slight speed gap last time in Barcelona, but the short lap times at the Red Bull Ring, the shortest of the year, will make the competition very fierce.
McLaren is a team with momentum and it was around this time 12 months ago that they made the first major upgrade to the car, marking the start of their move towards the lead.
“I think McLaren is very solid at the moment, they’re good everywhere, on every track,” said Verstappen, who leads the championship by 69 points over Norris.
“As you can see in Barcelona, they wore their tires very well. I think they were able to push their tires further than everyone else on the grid, but they didn't really deteriorate that much towards the end of the race.”
“The last stunt, the last few laps were pretty tough too, but Lando definitely caught up a lot, so those are the areas we need to work on better. Plus, there are known issues with curbs and bumps and basically low speeds.”
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Max Verstappen has dismissed rumors he will leave Red Bull any time soon, saying he will focus on next year.
It's important to get out of the block quickly.
It's a sprint weekend in Austria, so there will be just one practice session on Friday at 11.30am, before going straight into sprint qualifying live on Sky Sports F1 at 3.30pm.
At Imola and Canada, Red Bull were on the back foot, but after spending hours in the simulator overnight to find the sweet spot, Verstappen was able to move up to the front row.
“I would say Barcelona. “We had a normal weekend, we were too slow,” Verstappen said of Red Bull’s recent inconsistent Friday.
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Take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments from the Austrian Grand Prix over the years.
“Then you keep trying to make adjustments and luckily I think things got a little bit better in qualifying, but that was probably just the normal progression we had all weekend.
“Of course we've had messy weekends before that, so we can't afford that anymore. So of course I'm hoping for a clean weekend, basically like we had in Barcelona, but I hope a little bit more, the speed as well.”
For McLaren, it appears they have a versatile car that provides easier access to the optimal operating window.
Oscar Piastri has struggled in the last two events but believes McLaren's car can get up to speed straight away in the weekend's race.
“Except for Barcelona, I got used to the car from the first lap of practice,” he said.
“I think we have to be confident that we can get off to a successful start. Last weekend was a reminder that it is not always easy to achieve that, but we have to be confident that we can be strong out of the blocks.”
traffic will be a problem
Shorter lap times mean that traffic will be a big problem in sprint heats and preliminaries, especially in the first segment of each session.
Ideally, the driver will want to be three seconds behind the other cars also on the flying lap to gain a small wake advantage without being hindered by dirty air in the corner.
However, drivers will now back up before starting their laps on the final two corners, which feature gravel close to the edge of the circuit.
This is an area Norris knows well, and he believes certain drivers tend to cut off more than others.
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George Russell joked that it would be great to see Lando Norris fighting for the win, but he hopes it 'doesn't last long'.
“It's always crazy, especially on short circuits. There's a common denominator of people who get in the way. It's usually pretty obvious who's doing it,” Norris said.
“For us, staying out of people's way is a top communication priority, and for others it doesn't seem to be the case. There's nothing we can do.
“It’s always confusing because sometimes they use it to try and slipstream, but when the last two corners are blind, sometimes it’s hard to tell because the speed difference between the slow and fast laps is pretty big. That’s the challenge of the circuit.
“If drivers don’t want to get penalized, they should tell engineers to provide more information about where people are.”
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Take a look at Lando Norris' rollercoaster race in Spain as the McLaren driver came very close to winning his second Formula 1 win.
Expect a fierce battle for the rest of the season
Red Bull are 60 points ahead of Ferrari and 93 points ahead of McLaren in the Constructors' Championship.
Sergio Perez has taken just four points from the last three races and Christian Horner has admitted the Mexican needs to improve to help his team in the title race.
Whether Perez can consistently perform close to Verstappen will determine McLaren and Ferrari's chances of wooing Red Bull.
“We work hard as a team to make every weekend better and simpler, knowing there will be good weekends and bad weekends,” Perez said.
“Last weekend the margins were very narrow and finding a few tenths would make a huge difference. It's important to stay calm about that.”
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Sergio Perez says he is aiming for a positive weekend in Austria after a number of 'nightmare' races this season.
Perez failed to beat Verstappen as both drivers saw the checkered flag for over a year and a fierce battle for the lead saw the other team squeeze in between the Red Bull pair.
“It’s important to maximize my skills,” the 34-year-old said, predicting fierce competition to continue leading up to the season finale in Abu Dhabi.
“I think it’s going to be like this for the rest of the year unless someone finds a magic bullet. But I don't expect that to happen.
“It’s becoming more and more difficult for people to find performance. There will be tracks where one team does really well and vice versa.
“The level of detail, the level of accuracy and the level of maximizing your weekend will determine when you have a chance to win.”
Live Austrian GP schedule on Sky Sports F1
Thursday, June 27
12:30 PM: Driver press conference.
Friday, June 28
7:50 AM: F3 practice
9am: F2 practice
11:00 AM: Austrian GP Practice 1 (session starts at 11:30 AM)
12:55 PM: F3 qualifying
1:50 PM: F2 qualifying
3:00 PM: Austrian GP Sprint Qualifying (session starts at 3:30 PM)*
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Take a look back at some of the most dramatic moments from the Austrian Grand Prix over the years.
Saturday, June 29th
8:25 AM: F3 Sprint
10 AM: Austrian GP Sprint (race starts at 11 AM)*
12:25 PM: F2 Sprint
2pm: Preparing for Austrian GP qualifying
3pm: Austrian GP qualifying
5 p.m.: Ted's Qualifying Notes
Sunday, June 30th
7:25 a.m.: F3 Feature Race
8:55 AM: F2 Feature Race
12:30 PM: Grand Prix Sunday: Austrian GP strengthened*
2 p.m.: Austrian Grand Prix*
4pm: Checked Flag: Austrian GP Reaction*
5 p.m.: Ted's Notes
*Live broadcast on Sky Sports Main Event
F1's tripleheader continues this week at the Austrian Grand Prix. The sprint format returns to the Red Bull Ring. Watch every session live on Sky Sports F1, with the big race taking place on Sunday at 2pm. Stream every F1 race and more with a NOW Sports Month membership. There is no contract and you can cancel at any time.
