Red Bull closer to its rivals on tomorrow's Austrian GP

Daniel Ricciardo

Position: 7th*, 1:09.980 (Practice 3 – P4 1:07.639)

"It was quite fun coming into Q3 knowing that it was going to be wet and I like it when you have to adapt quite quickly. We got out on the intermediates and started with a pretty good pace and I was happy, but I knew it was going to dry by the end of the session and the slick tyres were going to be better. In hindsight I would have liked to have come in a bit earlier and at least had two laps on the slick tyre so that’s probably where we missed out in getting those extra few positions. I think I’ll start fifth now from some of the penalties, which is alright and we did well in Q2. We got through on the super softs so that hopefully pays dividends tomorrow and we can be closer to our rivals.”

*Starting grid position to be determined following Stewards’ ruling.

Max Verstappen

Position: 9th*, 1:11.153 (Practice 3 – P7, 1:07.761)

"The conditions today meant we had to switch from dry to wet and then back to dry, which made it interesting. We were out too early and of course everyone goes faster at the end of the session. I passed the line with 50 seconds to go which meant everyone had time on a drier track. It’s difficult to say where we would have been. The pace was good, but we start too far back. We made a good call with the tyres in Q2 so we start on super softs tomorrow so we shall see how we go. I said about the kerbs causing problems yesterday and I think my point was proven again today. Daniil had quite a big crash due to them early on. Not many people agreed with me yesterday but I think they could find out for themselves.”

*Starting grid position to be determined following Stewards’ ruling.

Christian Horner, Team Principal: “Variable conditions in Q3 made for a very exciting finish to today’s qualifying, but creates a situation where you are never certain of your final position, with hindsight it would have been better to allow for two laps on slick tyres. With that in mind, we don’t feel our positions on the grid for tomorrow’s grand prix reflect our real ability this year at the Red Bull Ring. We started on the intermediates but in the knowledge that we would need to change but not knowing when. In conclusion, after a positive Q2, we will hope to better capitalise on the expected changeable conditions tomorrow and both drivers are itching to put in a good performance in front of the Austrian crowd at our home race.”

Red Bull Racing