Did this Red Bull decision cost Max Verstappen the victory in Austria?

The Austrian Grand Prix was decided by a combination of outright pace, tyre management and strategy.

In the end, polesitter George Russell executed the perfect race, controlling proceedings from the front before fending off late pressure from Max Verstappen and championship leader Kimi Antonelli.

Just 1.8 seconds separated the top three at the chequered flag. That naturally raises the question: Did Red Bull get Verstappen's strategy right?

The four-time world champion closed rapidly on Russell during the closing laps but ultimately ran out of time to launch a genuine attack. At the same time, he also had to keep a faster Antonelli behind in the final stint, making for a tense finish.

Starting fifth on the grid, Verstappen's race was always going to be more complicated than Russell's.

The opening phase was spent carving his way through traffic, overtaking Kimi Antonelli, Charles Leclerc and, crucially, Lewis Hamilton. While Verstappen was making up ground, Russell enjoyed clean air at the front and was able to build an early advantage without coming under pressure.

Once Verstappen finally cleared Hamilton, he immediately began reducing the gap to the Mercedes. Before - and for much of the period after - the opening round of pit stops, Verstappen consistently lapped significantly quicker than Russell, at times by more than half a second per lap.

That pace advantage suggested victory was still very much within reach, but the race appeared to turn on lap 43.

Russell made his final pit stop, while Red Bull simultaneously prepared Verstappen's car for what looked set to be a matching response. Instead, Verstappen was kept out.

Initially, the overcut looked like a calculated gamble. In reality, it quickly unravelled. On fresh tyres, Russell was approximately 1.5 seconds per lap faster than Verstappen, whose ageing tyres rapidly lost performance. By the time Red Bull finally called Verstappen in on lap 49, the damage had already been done.

When Russell entered the pits, Verstappen was just one second behind. Six laps later, that gap had ballooned to around 11 seconds.

Although Verstappen's newer tyres allowed him to dramatically reduce the deficit over the closing laps, the lost time proved impossible to recover.

Verstappen questions the strategy

The race pace data only adds to the debate. Across the full Grand Prix distance, Verstappen recorded the strongest average race pace of the leading contenders, underlining that Red Bull had a car capable of fighting for victory.

Ultimately, strategy - rather than outright speed - appears to have made the difference. Verstappen himself hinted after the race that an earlier final stop may have been the better option.

"Before the final stop, we were much closer," the Dutchman told Viaplay. "We tried to extend the stint, but I didn't have a good feeling with the rear, and the tyres just couldn't hold on."

He added that hindsight suggested a more aggressive approach may have paid off, adding, "Maybe we should have tried to be more aggressive and at least get ahead of George through the pit stop. But that's easy to say afterwards."

Speaking in the FIA press conference, Verstappen elaborated further: "I personally felt like the laps that I stayed out, I probably lost a little bit too much compared to what I gained back of those extra laps on new tyres."

We'll never know for certain whether an earlier final stop would have been enough to beat Russell.

What is clear, however, is that Verstappen had the pace to challenge for victory throughout the afternoon. Had Red Bull covered Mercedes immediately rather than attempting the overcut, Verstappen may well have emerged in a position to attack Russell instead of spending the final laps chasing him down.

Even so, there were plenty of positives for Red Bull. After a difficult run of races, the RB22 showed genuine race-winning speed again, and Verstappen demonstrated that he remains firmly in the fight whenever the car is capable of matching the front-runners.