Max Verstappen’s Austrian Grand Prix qualifying session came to an abrupt end this afternoon when his RB22 slammed into the barriers at Turn 9 during Q3.The four-time world champion experienced a sudden loss of rear grip, sending his car spinning off the circuit in front of Red Bull’s home supporters.Verstappen will line up fifth on the grid tomorrow, with George Russell claiming pole position ahead of Charles Leclerc, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli.The Dutchman’s earlier Q3 lap had recorded a time of 1m06.475s, which initially placed him third before the crash ended his chances of improvement.Max Verstappen slammed into the barriers at Turn 9 during Q3 | GETTYIt marks the first time since 2020 that Verstappen has failed to secure pole at the Red Bull Ring, having dominated qualifying at this venue for four consecutive years.Verstappen recounted the sequence of events that led to his accident, revealing that trouble had begun earlier in the lap.”In that lap, on Turn 6, there was a big moment on entry,” he told Sky Sports. “It is a bit weird as I have not had something like that all weekend.”The 28-year-old pressed on despite this warning sign, only for the situation to deteriorate dramatically moments later.”Then, in Turn 9, it was immediately gone. Not a small correction but full-lock off. That is a bit odd, so we will have a look,” Verstappen explained.Max Verstappen has spoken for the first time since the incident | REUTERSThe Dutchman described sensing what felt like a sudden absence of downforce as he turned into the corner.”As soon as I turned the wheel it just completely went away,” he added.Red Bull engineers are now working to determine what caused the mechanical anomaly.Verstappen’s teammate Isack Hadjar suggested the issue might relate to the rear wing failing to close properly after a straight mode zone, but the Dutchman played down this theory.”We are aware of that, I think more teams are aware of that, and you already take measures for that,” Verstappen said. “So, I did that.”The four-time champion insisted he had not made any setup changes to the car and was not pushing beyond reasonable limits.”I think normally you can catch an oversteer, but this was not controllable at all, unfortunately,” he remarked.The team will continue analysing data ahead of tomorrow’s race to understand what went wrong with their upgrade package.Verstappen acknowledged that a podium starting position had been within reach before the incident.”I think realistically we could have been P3, it’s a little bit better than P5,” he told Sky Sports.However, the Dutchman tempered expectations by pointing to Red Bull’s well-documented struggles off the line.”But realistically, I think even if we would have been P3, coming off the line is hard for us, so you probably drop back to P5,” he conceded.Max Verstappen insists a podium finish was within his grasp before the crash | REUTERSThe team had introduced a significant upgrade package at their parent company’s home circuit, though Verstappen is withholding judgement on its effectiveness.”There are still some things we want to understand from the package, some that worked well and some not so well, and work from there,” he said.