Max Verstappen’s Second Position at the Australian Grand Prix

Four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen secured a hard-fought second position at the Australian Grand Prix, trailing McLaren‘s Lando Norris. The race, marked by challenging weather conditions, saw six drivers retiring.

Verstappen’s Decision to Stay Out on Track

In the closing stages of the race, after both McLaren drivers ran wide at Turn 11, Norris immediately pitted, while Verstappen opted to stay out for two additional laps. Discussing this strategic move, Verstappen explained in a post-race press conference: “We were on medium tires, and of course, you never know how that’s going to play out. I thought it was a sensible call with 15, 16 or 20 laps remaining when the safety car came out. Then, of course, it started to rain. I saw them go off in front of me. I kept it clean when I saw Oscar rejoining.”

“I stayed out because it was only those three corners. The rest was still dry because when I continued, the first two sectors were fine. It was just if I could survive the final sector,” Verstappen added. He further explained that he believed there wouldn’t be much more rain coming, and if McLaren had caught him on intermediates, they would have to pit again for slicks if it stopped raining.

Red Bull’s Performance and Future Prospects

Despite a strong start to the weekend in free practice, Verstappen admitted that Red Bull still has work to do to compete for a win. He was “happy” with securing second place, stating, “I think it’s good compared to the teams behind us. But of course, if you look at the first stint, we were quite a bit off. As soon as the tires started to overheat, we had no chance.”

Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko acknowledged that they could match McLaren for six to eight laps before tire degradation became an issue. He expressed optimism about their performance, stating, “But through the conditions and changing safety car and so on, Max was there. I think in the last six laps he was the faster guy, but of course, overtaking was not possible, so what he tried was to push Lando into a mistake.”

Despite not securing the win, Marko considered it a “very good result” for Red Bull and predicted a challenging yet exciting season ahead.