Red Bull confirm review after missed Max Verstappen opportunity

Laurent Mekies has confirmed Red Bull will review its race strategy after potentially missing the opportunity for Max Verstappen to undercut George Russell in the closing stages of the Austrian Grand Prix.

The Dutchman had to settle for second place at the Red Bull Ring, taking the chequered flag 1.6 seconds adrift of the Mercedes driver.

And despite the four-time F1 drivers' champion having to fend off Kimi Antonelli in the second W17 in the dying moments, the Red Bull team principal was pleased with the performance of the RB22 at the team's home race.

"The most satisfying element was the pace," Mekies told Sky Sports F1. "For the first time this season, we have the pace to be very, very close to having enough to win, so a big credit to everyone back in Milton Keynes.

"It's not something that happens very often that you can save more than one second of pace delta in a few races, and the season is still very long.

"We know we need more, because we know competition will also continue to bring updates, but certainly, it's very impressive that we are now within the last tenths needed to be on top of the podium."

Paying the price

Verstappen started fifth after crashing in qualifying. Having looked to be in the hunt for pole position, his shunt at Turn 9, which the team took responsibility for and apologised for, ended any hopes of a front-row start in Spielberg.

The 28-year-old was able to carve through the pack in the opening stages of the 71-lap race, before setting his sights on Russell, who led from first on the grid.

With around 20 laps to go, Verstappen was just 1.3 seconds behind the Briton and looked to have the measure of the now seven-time grand prix winner, but Red Bull opted to run him six laps longer as opposed to taking the aggressive approach.

When asked if the team could have taken victory with an undercut on Russell, Mekies admitted it was something the team would have to take a look at, despite the chance that Mercedes could have responded by leaving Antonelli out as a buffer.

"It is something we will review, of course," he replied, before reflecting on how the team paid the price for starting further down the order.

"It's probably fair to say that Kimi was probably the fastest guy out there, and perhaps Max was, in fairness, a tiny bit faster than George, and just behind Kimi.

"But starting positions do matter, and we paid a little bit [the price of] having started a little bit further away from the top spot, but it's a move in the right direction for the whole team."