Verstappen: “Mercedes and Ferrari far away, even without the failure in Qualifying I couldn’t have gone beyond fifth place in Melbourne”

Red Bull out of the running for the podium

Max Verstappen started 2026 with a technical problem in Qualifying in Q1 in Melbourne, a k.o. that forced him to fight back from the back of the starting grid in the Australian GP. The four-time world champion fought back to sixth place at the finish, but stressed that even starting further forward he could not have aimed higher than fifth position.

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“At this moment the gap with Mercedes and Ferrari is quite significant – Verstappen said in the press conference – in Australia if I had started further forward maybe I could have finished in fifth place, but no higher. I believe we can improve, certainly, but we have to work on several things starting from tire degradation, we suffer a lot from graining.”

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Verstappen applauded the performance of teammate Isack Hadjar in Melbourne: “He started very well, in Qualifying I ended up k.o. and he took the car to third place on the second row. Unfortunately in the race he had to retire, but in Melbourne Hadjar was what we need as a team.”

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