Helmut Marko: Max could have qualified third.

      Max Verstappen posted the seventh fastest time in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix. The Red Bull Racing driver had to abort his final attempt due to yellow flags caused by Pierre Gasly’s spin. Helmut Marko believes that if not for this, Max could have secured third place on the grid.

      Helmut Marko: “In qualifying, the temperature increased compared to the third practice, and everyone had issues because of this except McLaren. Max ended up seventh because of the yellow flags, but our calculations showed that he could have qualified third.

      Nevertheless, the gap to Lando Norris would still have been half a second. On such a short lap, that’s a significant blow.

      It’s all about the temperature, which alters tire grip on the track, and the speed difference between new and scrubbed sets increases. The car’s behavior changed in every session, but we made adjustments, mainly working with tire pressures.

      It seems we chose the right direction since Max clearly improved in the second sector. As I said, according to our calculations, he would have been third.”