Marko reveals what position Verstappen would have realistically achieved even without yellow flag

Red Bull is left to lick its wounds in front of its home crowd in Austria, with Max Verstappen finishing qualifying only in seventh place, and Yuki Tsunoda once again eliminated in Q1, down in eighteenth position.

The updates introduced precisely for the Red Bull Ring weekend don’t appear to have brought any significant improvements to the RB21—at least for now. Verstappen was also unable to maximize the car’s potential due to the yellow flag caused by Pierre Gasly in the closing moments of Q3.

According to Helmut Marko, even without the yellow flag during his final Q3 attempt, Max Verstappen could have aimed "roughly in third place", the Austrian told ORF.

"That's a really big blow we're getting on this short track'', he also addedo, as he emphasized that "the decisive factor'' was the "difference in temperature," compared to FP3 this morning.

"The car's handling changed in every session''. This, according to Marko, caused "everyone, except for McLaren, to have problems."