For one afternoon at the Red Bull Ring, the misery lifted. Max Verstappen carved his way to second place at the Austrian Grand Prix, finishing behind George Russell and ahead of runaway championship leader Kimi Antonelli. On home soil, in front of the team's own grandstands, it was the closest thing to a celebration Red Bull has had all season.
Context is everything here. Russell won from pole and was never troubled, converting front-row track position into Mercedes' seventh victory in eight rounds. Antonelli took third and the fastest lap, extending a title lead that now reads 171 points to Russell's 131. Mercedes remains the class of the field by a distance. But P2 for Verstappen is a genuine result in a year that has offered him almost nothing.
A season Red Bull would rather forget
Verstappen is still winless in 2026, sitting seventh in the standings on 73 points, adrift of drivers in machinery that should be nowhere near him. Red Bull sit fourth in the constructors' championship with 115 points, trailing not just Mercedes and Ferrari but McLaren too. For a team accustomed to fighting for titles, fourth is a collapse, and Verstappen has spent much of the year hauling an uncompetitive car into places it has no business being.
That is exactly what makes Austria matter. Second place is not a car doing the work; it is a driver refusing to accept where the machinery says he belongs. His only other podium this year came at Canada, where he finished third. Second at the Red Bull Ring is his high-water mark of the campaign, and it came at the one venue where the result carries extra weight.
Small gains against a runaway leader
The hard truth is that even a strong Sunday barely moves the needle. Antonelli has now won five of eight races, including four straight from China through Canada, and the rookie's grip on the championship looks unshakeable. Finishing ahead of Antonelli by a single position, and clawing back a couple of points in the standings math, is a footnote against that backdrop.
Still, a struggling team takes its wins where it finds them, and this was one. Ferrari had a quiet day by comparison, with Lewis Hamilton only fifth and Charles Leclerc out of the top six, so Verstappen also outscored the cars directly ahead of him in the constructors' fight. It won't reshape the season. But after a spring of damage limitation, standing on the second step at home is a reminder of what Verstappen can still wring out of a bad car.
Next up is Silverstone on 5 July. Mercedes arrive as the team to beat again. Red Bull arrive hoping Austria was a sign of life rather than a one-off.