The three-time World Champion, Max Verstappen retired from the Formula One Australian Grand Prix on lap 4 of the race.
Verstappen fell out of the race because of a mechanical issue with his right rear brakes. A remarkable streak of finishes (43) came to an end.
The Dutch driver has retired for the first time since Australia 2022 — that was a mechanical retirement as well.
When asked about the issue, Verstappen said that the car was already in trouble from the beginning of the race.
“In the car, from my side, already I had that moment in turn 3 was very weird — why that happened was you weren’t really pushing, you were just easing into the race, you know? Settling in.”
“Having one brake caliper [that] is just stuck on — it’s like a handbrake.”
After looking at the data, it became apparent to the three-time World Champion that the problem was with the right rear brakes and the temperatures continued to soar.
He had a snap at turn 3 on lap 2 that allowed Sainz into DRS range. The Spaniard cruised on by as the Dutchman’s struggles eventually became terminal a couple of laps later.
“But of course once I got out of the car, you look into the data and basically what happened was from the — when the lights went off — the right rear brakes stuck on and, yeah, it didn’t cool.
“So it just kept on being warmer and warmer – giving me really weird instabilities and then of course, it caught fire.”
But Max Verstappen did not seem dejected at all speaking post-race. In fact, he still leads the championship by 4 points from Charles Leclerc despite not finishing at Albert Park.
“Yeah, it’s not ideal, of course, you always want to finish the races but it’s a mechanical sport, you know, these things unfortunately happen. But I think it’s the most important, of course, that we understand why it happened.”
The reigning World Champion’s comments almost imply that the issue with right rear brakes was a one-off — and is glad to know “why it happened”.
However, the team is yet to figure out what caused the right rear brake to get stuck.
“Not yet, I mean, they could see what was going on, but they don’t know what caused it.”
When asked about the emotional response to his retirement, Verstappen expressed his disappointment, suggesting that a win was on the table for him.
“Of course, I am disappointed with, you know, not being able to finish the race because I think we would’ve had a good shot at winning because the balance felt quite nice on the laps to the grid.
“I felt confident. Like a good improvement compared to the longer stints than what we did in practice, but some things you can’t control.”
If anything, Verstappen’s reaction goes to show that Red Bull are not shaken by a single DNF. They’re still confident in their performance.
