Martin Brundle feels Red Bull ‘will be worried’ at Austrian GP but not by McLaren

Follow us on Google Discover

Max Verstappen won the F1 Sprint at the Austrian Grand Prix on Saturday but Martin Brundle feels Red Bull ‘will be worried’ by one thing he spotted and it is not McLaren.

The Woking team sealed second and third place in the abbreviated 23-lap Sprint with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris. Issues with photographers at Turn 1 saw Formula 1 abort the initial start. But the McLaren pair could not maintain their threat to Verstappen once racing began.

Norris briefly led the Sprint at the Austrian GP on Lap 5 after his late move on Verstappen at Turn 3. Yet the Red Bull racer used the switchback and resulting slipstream to claim the lead back at Turn 4. Piastri even used Verstappen running Norris wide to steal second place away.

Red Bull ‘will be worried’ with Sergio Perez’s F1 Sprint at the Austrian GP

Yet Verstappen never saw another car’s gearbox after Norris led the Sprint for only a straight on L5. The 26-year-old ultimately won by 4.616 seconds to Piastri with Norris taking third spot another 0.732s back. But Brundle still feels Red Bull will be ‘worried’ at the Austrian GP.

Brundle believes the margin Verstappen created over his teammate Sergio Perez should give Red Bull cause for concern in Styria. The 34-year-old ended the Sprint in P8 to only get one point. Perez was even 17.409s behind Verstappen and in no-man’s land having started in P7.

READ MORE: Five unforgettable Austrian GPs from Ferrari’s orders to Hamilton vs Rosberg

Charles Leclerc improved from P10 on the Sprint grid to finish in seventh with a 3.985s lead to Perez. The Mexican had a poor qualifying on Friday after setting his final lap time running between the Alpine drivers. But Perez’s deficit to Verstappen after 23 laps concerns Brundle.

“What Red Bull will be worried about here is Perez ended up 17 seconds behind Verstappen in a 23-lap race,” Brundle said on Sky Sports F1 (29/6, 14:34). “And in the end the McLarens were five seconds behind [Verstappen].”

Red Bull will be desperate for Sergio Perez to respond in qualifying

The Red Bull Ring is one of the shortest tracks on the Formula 1 calendar at 4.3km (2.6m). Norris also posted the fastest lap of the Sprint at the Austrian GP with his 1:08.935. Perez set a personal-best lap time of 1:09.420, four-tenths of a second slower than Verstappen’s.

But Perez finishing the 23-lap Sprint at the Austrian GP 17 seconds behind Verstappen and also losing one place to Leclerc will certainly concern Red Bull. The Milton Keynes team will now desperately hope to see a big response from Perez during qualifying for the Grand Prix.

Perez goes into qualifying for the Austrian GP amid a dire run of setting the 11th fastest lap at the Emilia Romagna GP, the 18th fastest time at the Monaco GP, the 16th best lap at the Canadian GP and the eighth quickest at the Spanish GP. He also only made limited progress.

After gaining two spots in Monte Carlo with both Haas cars disqualified from qualifying, Red Bull watched Perez crash with Kevin Magnussen. He then crashed out of the Canadian GP, as well, on his own. The Guadalajara native also only finished eighth at Imola and Barcelona.