Max Verstappen has urged Red Bull to get to the bottom on his lack of performance at the United States Grand Prix.

The four-time world champion entered Austin following back-to-back wins at the Bahrain and Singapore Grands Prix, targeting a hat-trick of victories at the Circuit of the Americas.

But despite qualifying on the front row, Verstappen never looked like troubling comfortable race winner Kimi Antonelli's Mercedes, eventually even being pipped to second place by Ferrari's Charles Leclerc.

Only a late virtual safety car stopped him from falling off of the podium altogether, as it halted the rapid progress of the second Ferrari in Lewis Hamilton who would end up finishing just one second behind his old rival.

Verstappen baffled by lack of pace

The Dutchman insisted that Red Bull couldn't make the most of the tyre compounds, contributing to their lack of pace, before saying the team needed to investigate the cause.

Verstappen said: "I think our overall pace was not good enough, and then probably also the tyres that we had available were probably not the right ones.

"So, it's something that we have to understand, because I think the last two races it was always working well for us.

"For whatever reason, it didn't work out here. But, yeah, we still managed to get on the podium, maybe a little bit lucky with the VSC at the end, but I'll take it."

Verstappen now in battle for second

Antonelli's win in the United States officially eliminated Verstappen from title contention, although Red Bull's tough 2026 campaign meant the 29-year-old was really in the title battle.

However, Verstappen has still scored more points than any other driver in the last six races and while it puts him fourth in the championship, he is only six points behind second place driver George Russell.

Verstappen is back in action on Sunday for the Mexican Grand Prix where he has won five times in his 10 appearances at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez race track.