Max Verstappen says Red Bull already know what he needs to see from the team in order for him to stay, after being asked during the Austrian GP weekend whether he had specific targets for the rest of the season or particular things he wanted from Red Bull. Verstappen said: "They know, but I don't need to talk too much about it."

Isack Hadjar said he could not drive with his usual late-braking style in Austrian Grand Prix qualifying because he had little feel from the brakes on his Red Bull RB22, after taking eighth on the grid. Hadjar said: "Just can't smash the brakes, really. I'm a late braker, heavy braker, and this weekend I have not been able to use any of that. Then it compromised the whole rest of the corner. You can't brake, you can't do anything. I lock everything – no feel for tyre vibrations."

Andrea Stella says McLaren must increase the “intensity” of its development programme if it is to catch Mercedes, with the team principal acknowledging McLaren is “two to three months” behind Mercedes on aerodynamic development. Stella said: "We talk about three months of development that we need to catch up. There's only one way of doing so, which is to out-develop competitors. We need to rev our engine higher. We need to have more intensity in the business. We need to be good at delivering effective solutions. What I see in the pipeline is very promising, especially in terms of aerodynamic upgrades, but at the same time we need to land with these upgrades trackside as soon as possible."


Gabriel Bortoleto says Audi would be fighting for the top three if it had the same straight-line speed as Mercedes or Red Bull, after qualifying 12th at the Red Bull Ring and pointing to a power unit deficit. Bortoleto said: "Absolutely. I mean, I think if we had the same top speed as Mercedes or Red Bull, we would have been fighting for top three, just easy. I think you guys have access to GPS data, so you can compare the corners in Q2 and we are very quick in basically all the corners. We lose a lot on the straights."

Alpine executive adviser Flavio Briatore says Otro Capital’s reported asking price for its minority stake in the team is “completely crazy”, and insists Alpine is not involved in talks over the sale. Briatore said: "I know a lot of people talking about this 25%, and the price is completely mad for me, the price is completely crazy. Exactly, exactly. It's too high. But, anyway, this is the market. This, Formula 1 is, the team now is working this kind of money. It's fantastic for Formula 1. But, really we are not involved in any negotiation with Otro. This is more Renault and not us."

Drivers and fans at the Austrian Grand Prix are set to face extreme heat, with 35°C forecast at the Red Bull Ring and the region under an orange temperature warning. Humidity is expected to be around 39% with only a light breeze, while thunderstorms are flagged in wider forecasts but with a very low chance of affecting the race, so a dry 71 laps is expected. The heat is likely to amplify tyre degradation and cooling concerns.

Fernando Alonso said his upbeat Aston Martin radio message after qualifying 21st for the Austrian Grand Prix reflected genuine gains in the car’s drivability and energy deployment consistency, even though the team remains at the back of the grid. Alonso said: "Since FP1, I think we made huge steps on drivability, on gearbox, downshift, upshift, and energy consistency. I think the deployment has been a little bit inconsistent for the first part of the year, so you got to qualifying, on every lap you have a different speed on the straights and approaching to the corners. And I think it was the first quali of the year that I had the same deployment all three laps, and that allowed me to push the limits in the corner, because I knew the approaching speed to the next corner."

Andrea Stella said McLaren had to replace a cracked brake duct on Lando Norris’ car during qualifying after an attempted glue repair made the damage worse. Stella said: "On the brake duct, it initially looked like a crack that we could repair with some glue. We attempted it, but then when the car went for - I think it was the second run in Q1 - then we saw that the crack was propagating despite the glue. So at some stage we decided to change it. We knew that it took 10 minutes, so we wanted to make sure that we finished the run in time to be able to go out with the new part installed."

Toto Wolff says Mercedes “don’t want to change things” with their driver line-up, playing down links with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Wolff said: "Yeah, we don't want to change things. We've said it also to George, and I think it's a line-up that is good for us. I'm very happy with the two of them."



Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur said race control’s decision not to deploy double yellow flags after Max Verstappen’s crash in Austrian Grand Prix qualifying risks encouraging drivers to keep pushing in similar situations. Vasseur said: "The point is for me that I don't understand why we don't have a double yellow in this case. I think the negative side of this is that next quali, if you have a crash, everybody will push."




Lewis Hamilton says having Charles Leclerc starting alongside him near the front gives Ferrari a chance to work together on strategy to try to put Mercedes under pressure at the Austrian Grand Prix. Hamilton said: "It's going to be very tough to challenge them, but with a long run down to Turn 3, hopefully together we can. It's great having Charles here as well, because we can hopefully work together in a strategy and try to apply pressure to them."



Lando Norris said McLaren were “just where we deserve to be” after qualifying sixth for the Austrian Grand Prix, despite the team’s encouraging pace in Friday practice. Norris said: "I feel like everyone was probably expecting more, even us – we were probably expecting a little bit more, just from a position point of view. But you saw just how close it was... So we are just where we deserve to be."

Andrea Kimi Antonelli accused Ferrari of “sandbagging” in Friday practice at the Austrian Grand Prix after the team’s turnaround in qualifying. Antonelli said: "For sure, yesterday [Friday] they were sandbagging definitely, so I mean for sure their pace is going to be much better and we saw how strong they were in Barcelona, so let's see. It's going to be, again, another race where you need to manage tyres and trying to extract the maximum out of it."

George Russell said single-waved yellow flags were the right call after Max Verstappen crashed in the closing moments of qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix at the Red Bull Ring. Russell said: "I think in that instance, a single yellow was correct because, as I said, a double yellow is immediate danger. Lifting a hundred metres before a corner or lifting off with a single yellow, you're never going to lose control of the car. Verstappen, the only reason he was in the wall that far away is because he was attacking and lost the car. So I think the single yellow was correct."

Max Verstappen says Red Bull’s new upgrades are “a bit better”, after he crashed on his final Q3 lap at the Austrian Grand Prix and qualified fifth. Verstappen said: "Most of the upgrade worked well. A few things still need to be looked at to see if they can be improved. Overall, I do think it was a bit better. But of course, this is a very short lap, so in terms of lap times, the gaps are always a bit tighter. We'll have to wait and see how things look in the upcoming races."


Oscar Piastri says McLaren cannot “magically generate performance” after a “very tough” qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix, with the team ending up sixth and seventh on the grid. Piastri said: "I feel like we've done a good job of extracting everything we can out of the car, and it is not the first time we've got to Q3, and we need that last half-a-tenth or tenth. Lando and I have been within half-a-tenth of each other nearly every lap we've done this weekend, so when you've got two drivers that are so close all the time, it is probably a sign that extracting big chunks out of the car is very tough. We can't magically generate performance out of thin air."


Max Verstappen said his late crash in qualifying for the Austrian Grand Prix was “a bit weird” and “odd”, adding that he had not had any warning signs in that corner. Verstappen said: "Not in that corner at all. I mean, just that lap already in Turn 6 on the entry, big moment. So that was a bit weird, because the whole weekend I've never had something like that. And then I arrived to Turn 9, I turned in and I'm immediately gone. Not even a small correction, I was just immediately full lock off. So that's a bit odd, but we'll have a look."

Get the full feed, faster alerts, and the stories worth following on your phone.