Karun Chandhok immediately saw Max Verstappen mistake that caused his crash at Austrian Grand Prix

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Karun Chandhok feels Max Verstappen was trying “too much” to improve his lap time when the Red Bull racer crashed during qualifying for the 2026 F1 Austrian Grand Prix.

Verstappen created chaos at the end of qualifying at the Red Bull Ring on Saturday when the four-time champion spun his RB22 at Turn 9. The late incident meant he could not improve his lap time, and the Red Bull ace will start his team’s home race from fifth place on the grid.

At first, the trackside marshals and the light system at Turn 9 only showed single yellow flags before being upgraded to double-waved yellows after around 15 seconds. The delay created a small window for Mercedes’ George Russell to score pole for the Austrian GP at the death.

Karun Chandhok thinks Max Verstappen crashed in qualifying for the Austrian GP as he tried ‘too much’

It proved to be a highly controversial finish to qualifying, as while Russell’s data showed his Austrian GP pole lap was legal as he only hit single yellow flags, the Briton’s rivals including teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli had to abort their laps after hitting double-waved yellows.

READ MORE: How to watch the 2026 Austrian Grand Prix on TV, plus the weather forecast

All of the chaos at the end of qualifying for the Austrian GP came as a result of Verstappen’s crash at Turn 9. And Chandhok feels Verstappen was simply trying to find too much speed in the right-hander, as he was 6kph slower at the apex of T9 than Antonelli during the first Q3 runs when the Italian led Russell and Verstappen atop the timesheets by 0.043 and 0.061s.

Chandhok told Sky Sports F1 (27/6, 16:02): “We’re looking from high up in the helicopter, he was very close to [Charles] Leclerc’s time in the second sector, then just lost the back end.

“Watch this as he goes over the crest, turns in, and just very early on, before the apex, the rear of the car already started to rotate and come round on him.

“Turn 9, that’s where he was down on the benchmark of Kimi Antonelli, and that’s where he had to find time. That’s where he had to look for extra performance.

“He had a go, you can’t fault him for trying. But just a little bit too much there, and the rear of the car snapped away from him.”

Sam Bird thinks Max Verstappen crashed in qualifying for the Austrian GP due to Red Bull’s car

George Russell scores pole for the Austrian Grand Prix 🇦🇹 But who surprised you the most during qualifying

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How early Verstappen lost the rear end of the Red Bull RB22 in Turn 9 when he crashed out of qualifying for the Austrian GP this Saturday also caught former McLaren Formula E driver Sam Bird’s attention. But Bird does not believe the crash was necessarily a pure driver error.

Instead, Bird wondered whether Verstappen lost the aerodynamic ability of his Red Bull and the loss of downforce generated meant he spun and hit the barriers. Red Bull have revealed a raft of upgrades this weekend, having largely overhauled the car in their pursuit of speed.

Bird said on BBC Radio 5 Live (27/06, 16:02): “He was [flying]. But that spin happened very, very early in the corner. It just looked like as soon as he’s turned in, he’s lost the aerodynamic ability of that Red Bull.

“Let’s have a look again, he turns in and just immediately loses the rear end. I wonder if something’s gone wrong there with a down shift, and it’s just caused a rear lock up.”

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies later confirmed after the team’s post-session checks that Verstappen’s crash in qualifying for the Austrian GP was the result of a problem with his rear wing failing to correctly reset after the Straight Mode zone, causing a loss of downforce.

“The dynamic of the incident was quite unusual, and we lost aero performance on the rear of the car, and it gave Max no chance to survive,” Mekies noted in Red Bull’s statement. “As a team, we take full responsibility for it and apologise to him.”

Red Bull’s bargeboard upgrade in Austria puzzles Gary Anderson, after changing the leading edge of their four-vane concept. The Milton Keynes-based outfit have also debuted sidepod, engine cover, floor, rear suspension, rear corner, rear wing and exhaust upgrades this week.