Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen will start the season opening Australian Grand Prix from fifth on the grid behind the two Mercedes and both Ferrari drivers.
The young Dutchman was a little disappointed with the afternoon’s result and admitted that it has been a bit of a tough weekend overall after incident over the last two days saw him lose out on valuable track time. However, that said, he knows he now needs to focus on tomorrow’s race and get the best start he possibly can.
"It's been a bit of a tough weekend in general, I haven't done as much running as I would have liked,” he said. “Qualifying was pretty much the first time I managed to string some laps together uninterrupted. This morning we didn't have the balance and therefore couldn't find the rhythm, so we tried a few things that unfortunately didn't work how we would have liked. Heading into qualifying we found some positives and built it up lap by lap, after that I kept improving, the balance got better and I managed to have a fairly good qualifying.”
“The car is better balanced now but it is clear to see we still a have to gain a bit. It's not just in power; we built a car that is efficient on the straights but it means we lose a bit of grip in cornering. I am not disappointed as I think this is about where we expected to be at race 1. Tomorrow it is important for me to have a quick and clean start and let the guys in front battle it out. That could then lead to some opportunities. We will keep working this evening to improve and find some more pace ready for tomorrow's race."
