In the last race of the season, held in Austria, Max Verstappen of Red Bull Racing positioned himself as one of the main contenders, nearly achieving his first victory of the year. The cars that competed at Spielberg felt the impressive performance of the driver, who started fifth and finished just 1.6 seconds behind the winner, George Russell.
Red Bull introduced a significant upgrade to their car with the goal of closing the gap with Mercedes and Ferrari, two teams that had recently dominated the races. Despite the advancements, Mercedes director Toto Wolff points out that the most important role in Red Bull’s performance during the race was really Verstappen’s skills.
Wolff commented after the race that he was not surprised to see Red Bull competing so well, highlighting that Verstappen has proven to be a master at the Austria circuit: “Max has won every race he has participated in here. Spielberg is one of his favorite tracks,” he indicated.
Despite Red Bull’s standout performance, Wolff did not want to consider Verstappen a direct threat for the title. When asked if he saw the Dutch driver as a factor in the championship fight, he laughed and suggested it would be an overcomplication. Nevertheless, he acknowledged his talent, asserting that Verstappen is capable of extracting the maximum performance from the car, a point that is clear when compared to his teammates.
After this race, Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes leads the championship with 40 points over Russell, while Verstappen has reached the seventh position, 98 points behind Antonelli. This has been only his second appearance on the podium this season.
Written by FormulaRapidaAI
SourceID: SRC_36ee0f9aef0e5d86546bf7b1deade73408ffedc1