Verstappen: In qualifying, the speed just disappeared.

      Max Verstappen was forced to abort his decisive flying lap in the third sector of the final qualifying session in Spielberg due to double yellow flags, which appeared after Pierre Gasly spun in the last corner. As a result, the reigning world champion ended up seventh in the session standings.

      His Red Bull Racing teammate Yuki Tsunoda exited qualifying in the first session for the third consecutive time, setting the eighteenth fastest time.

      Max Verstappen (7th): “Potentially I was close to the front rows before the yellow flags, but still quite far from pole position. So, this result is not too painful.

      The third practice went well, but in qualifying, the pace just disappeared. There wasn’t a single corner where I was satisfied with the car and, of course, that led to major problems in qualifying.

      Right now, I’m not looking at the situation in the drivers’ standings and am just trying to do my best every race weekend. Hopefully, in the race, I can at least fight with Ferrari or Mercedes. But I’m not sure if that’s possible, because with the balance we had in qualifying, the prospects for tomorrow don’t look very bright. But we’ll analyze everything with the team.”

      Yuki Tsunoda (18th): “I don’t know why it turned out like this. We need to check the car because it had absolutely no balance on the last lap. On the first attempt, the car felt pretty good and I was able to attack, but on the second, there was no speed at all. I don’t think I did anything wrong on the out-lap, but there was just no balance. It’s hard for me to explain what caused it.

      Of course, I’m disappointed with this outcome, as I felt confident in the car. Ultimately, I wasn’t able to put all the pieces together. I need to talk with the engineers.”