Max Verstappen accepts Red Bull is simply "too slow" after slipping to third place in the Styrian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman was unable to keep pace with eventual race winner Lewis Hamilton in the first stint on Sunday and though the gap remained stable after the pit-stop, ageing tyres saw him drop into the clutches of Valtteri Bottas and unable to prevent a Mercedes one-two.
"I tried, but we are just too slow," he admitted to Sky Sports' Martin Brundle. "I pushed as hard as I could, also when Valtteri was trying to pass me I tried to make it a little bit difficult.
"I knew he was going to get by one lap later but it was at least fun because the race was pretty boring. A podium is good, but still a lot of work to do."
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During the race, Verstappen questioned Red Bull's reason to pit first for the medium tyre, with the team confirming it was to avoid a potential undercut from Bottas.
Instead, the decision would backfire as the Finn stopped 10 laps later than Max, using that advantage to catch the pass him.
“Pitting early, late or the same, I don’t think it’s going to change the end result," he told RaceFans
"At the time I thought we were pitting a bit early. I knew, of course, towards the end of the race I was going to run out of tyres.
"But it’s what it is. I said on the radio ‘never mind, I’ll just get on with the job’.”
Verstappen was also taken aback by the huge gap between the top three and the rest, with teammate Alex Albon 44 seconds behind race winner Hamilton.
But after retiring just 11 laps into the first race a week ago, the 15 points for third are at least a start.
“To bounce back from zero points last week to a podium now is a good start,” he said.
“I think as a team we want to win and we want to fight for the championship, but if you want to fight for the championship of course you need to win races.
“We need to look into it. I think we were losing quite a bit on the straight as well, so it’s a bit of both [car and engine] at the moment. So we just need to keep on working harder to try and close the gap.”
