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**Headline: Heat and Setup Woes Plague Red Bull at Austrian GP Qualifying, Verstappen Starts P7**
**Spielberg, Austria** – Red Bull Racing faced an unexpectedly difficult qualifying session at their home Grand Prix in Austria, with Max Verstappen struggling to P7 and Yuki Tsunoda eliminated in Q1. While a late yellow flag caused by Pierre Gasly hindered some, Verstappen attributed his struggles to the RB21’s poor performance in the hotter track conditions.
The World Champion explained that the car’s balance “fell apart” as temperatures rose, echoing long-standing concerns about the RB21’s tendency to overheat rear tires, particularly in longer stints. However, Pirelli Chief Mario Isola indicated that overheating wasn’t the sole issue during the single-lap qualifying runs, suggesting a deeper problem with the car falling outside its optimal operating window.
While Verstappen denied significant setup changes after FP3, adjustments were made from Friday to Saturday to address understeer. The issue appears to be the car’s sensitivity to temperature changes and the interaction with the tires in hotter conditions. Isola hinted that teams who anticipated and adjusted for the increased heat fared better than those sticking to Friday’s setup.
This result highlights the RB21’s narrow operating window, a known weakness that Red Bull has struggled to overcome despite floor upgrades and ongoing development. In contrast, McLaren’s MCL39 demonstrates greater versatility across various track conditions and tire compounds.
Red Bull now faces a significant challenge to salvage the race, with the team acknowledging a performance deficit compared to McLaren and limited time to address the underlying issues before focusing entirely on the 2026 season.
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