Verstappen rues lack of pace at the Red Bull Ring, but praises his new race engineer after the opening day at Spielberg

Despite having displayed encouraging pace on the opening day at the Austrian Grand Prix, Max Verstappen has conceded that his RB21 is lacking pace at the Red Bull Ring.

The four-time world champion ended the opening practice in second place on the timesheets before setting the third fastest time in the early evening session.

Reflecting on his first two practice sessions on the circuit where he is the most successful driver, reckoned that he had a smooth day, albeit he fears that his RB21 lacks pace compared to the field-leading McLarens.

“I think overall it was quite straightforward. Didn’t have any big issues, but just lacking a bit of pace, a bit too much understeer in the car as well [in the] short run and long run, so that is something that we have to try and get rid of.

Verstappen is completing the Spielberg weekend with a new race engineer as Gianpiero Lambiase has been forced to miss the Austrian Grand Prix weekend for personal reasons.

The British engineer is set to return at next weekend's British Grand Prix but, in the interim, Verstappen is by being supported by Simon Rennie.

Reflecting on his first day of working directly with Rennie, who has previously acted as a race engineer for drivers including Mark Webber, Daniel Ricciardo and Alex Albon since joining Red Bull in 2013, Verstappen stated that he has known the British engineer for a long time.

“I think so far today’s been really good with Simon, of course I’ve known Simon for a long time on the other side of the garage and working with him also in the simulator. He has a lot of experience, so it’s been actually very good today. He was straight on it and it was nice.”