[ad_1]
Verstappen started the Melbourne race from pole but could not maintain his lead for long as Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz passed him on the second lap.
The Dutchman immediately complained about the balance of his RB20, saying the rear end was starting to loosen.
In the 4th round, the reason became clear as his right rear corner began to smoke. Towards the end of the lap, Verstappen had to drop back and pulled out into the pit lane with a right rear brake shot.
“My right rear brake remained stuck from the moment the lights went out, so the temperatures continued to rise and up to the point of course where it caught fire,” Verstappen said.
“I had this moment after the first lap, but already the temperature was rising and rising, so it works like a handbrake. But of course, I didn’t know this kind of thing was happening. I just had the “I felt like the problem was with the car. The balance was off.”
“[The team] You could see what was happening, but they didn’t know what was causing it. »
Verstappen’s brake failure ended a run of 43 consecutive races without a retirement, all in the points as well, with his last retirement also coming at Albert Park in 2022.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Lando Norris, McLaren MCL38, Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
He says good reliability from Red Bull makes his retirement in Melbourne easier to take.
“Of course we had a lot of good races in a row, a lot of good reliability. And I knew the day would come when we would eventually give up and unfortunately that day was today,” he said.
“We’ve already had a really good two-year run, so that’s already pretty impressive. Of course, we never liked seeing this happen, but it’s more important now that we understand why.”
Verstappen believed his car still felt normal and well-balanced during reconnaissance laps on the grid, and backed himself to take three wins out of three this season.
“Of course I’m disappointed that we couldn’t finish the race because I think we would have had a good chance of winning,” he explained.
“The balance was pretty good on those laps up to the grid and I felt confident and I reckon it was a good improvement on what I felt in the long runs we did in practice. But Yes, some things you can’t control.”
[ad_2]
