‘Frustrating, unacceptable’ - Red Bull’s Max Verstappen fumes after second DNF of the season at Australian Grand Prix
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Updated 10/04/2022 at 12:17 GMT
For the second time this season, defending Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen failed to finish a race after another disappointing retirement at the Australian Grand Prix. Having suffered power unit issues in Bahrain, the Dutchman complained of the smell of “weird fluid” before pulling his car to the side of the road, resulting in a virtual safety car at Albert Park.
‘No pace, I couldn’t push’ – Verstappen on miserable race
Defending Formula 1 world champion Max Verstappen insists he does not want to think about the world title fight after suffering his second retirement of the season at the Australian Grand Prix.
The Dutchman endured more problems at Albert Park, having complained over team radio that he could smell some "weird fluid" before immediately pulling his car to the side of the road on lap 39.
His retirement meant Charles Leclerc ran out a comfortable winner by over 20 seconds in Melbourne after a dominant performance from start to finish.
Speaking after the race, Verstappen was left to rue what could have been for himself and Red Bull, despite admitting that he was no match for Leclerc prior to his disappointing DNF.
“We’re already miles behind,” he said. “I don’t even want to think about the championship fight at the moment; I think it’s more important to finish races.
“Today in general was just a bad day again. Not really having the pace, I was just managing my tyres to try and just bring it to the end, because it looked like quite an easy P2 anyway and I knew I could not fight Charles. There was no point trying to put pressure on him.
“We didn’t even finish the race, so it’s pretty frustrating and unacceptable.
"These kinds of things, if you want to fight for the title, cannot happen.”
Red Bull team boss Christian Horner also reacted to Verstappen’s retirement, saying he felt for his driver after another disappointing result.
"It’s totally understandable, his frustration," he told Sky Sports. "That was a really disappointing result not to finish the race.
"We don’t know what the issue is yet. I don’t actually think it’s engine-related; it might be a fuel issue. We need to get the car back and look at what exactly happened.”
Discussing Sunday’s race overall, Horner added: "As Max said, we didn’t have the pace to race Charles. They [Ferrari] were in a league of their own, but it’s frustrating not to be bagging those points.”
Verstappen also endured hardship at the opening race of the season in Bahrain, suffering a power unit issue as both Red Bull cars retired late in the race, which was also won by Ferrari’s Leclerc.
His latest incident in Melbourne led to the use of a virtual safety car, with earlier accidents for Scuderia driver Carlos Sainz and Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel resulting in full safety cars being deployed.
Speaking yesterday, Verstappen had described his race weekend as being “all over the place”, despite qualifying second ahead of team-mate Sergio Perez.
"I didn’t really feel comfortable in the car for the whole weekend,” he told reporters. "There’s not been one lap where I actually felt confident, so [it has been] a bit of struggle.
"Of course, second is still a good result, but I’m not feeling that great to go to the limit.
"For me, this weekend has been all over the place… as a team, we want more.”
Sunday’s result means Leclerc leads the drivers’ championship standings with 71 points, 34 ahead of Mercedes’ George Russell after the Brit’s first podium finish of the season in Australia.
Meanwhile, Verstappen remains on 25 points, all of which were claimed thanks to his enthralling race win in Jeddah two weeks ago.
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