Max Verstappen reflects on late-race Lando Norris battle and ‘spicy’ tyre gamble as he hails ‘decent starting point’ in Australia

Max Verstappen was relieved to score a decent haul of points by taking P2 in an eventful Australian Grand Prix, with the Dutchman stating that the result acts as a “decent starting point” for Red Bull’s season ahead.

Verstappen made a good start to the race, getting the better of Oscar Piastri off the line to move up from third to second behind leader Lando Norris.

The World Champion later claimed the lead when treacherous weather conditions caused both McLarens to slide onto the grass – with Norris pitting and Piastri becoming stuck. But, after holding out for as long as possible on slick tyres, Verstappen was also soon forced to pit for intermediates, handing P1 back to Norris.

It wasn’t over there, though, as Verstappen closed in on the British driver during the final laps following a late-race Safety Car – but Norris managed to resist the pressure and hold on to clinch victory, with Verstappen crossing the line only 0.895s behind.

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“It was a difficult race but at the end it was fun,” Verstappen commented afterwards. “Lando had a little moment on entry of [Turn] 6, so he lost a lot of momentum there and that is why I got close and I got the DRS.

“I got close but it's very hard to pass around here. But it was fun those last laps, pushing at least when you are fighting for the win. But I'm just very happy to bring it home, score good points, and this is a decent starting point for us."

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Asked to explain the decision to stay out on the slick tyres as others started to pit for intermediates, Verstappen responded: “They [the McLarens] went off and I think it was a panic 'Oh, I need to box'. So when they came in, I stayed out.

“The first lap, honestly, I think it was alright but then unfortunately, the weather continued a bit more on the other side of the track and we then had to box. But I think at the end of the day, even if we had to box one lap earlier, we would have still been P2 anyway after that stop.

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"I think it was worth the gamble. It was quite spicy with the slick tyres, but it was alright at the end."

And in terms of whether the RB21 had performed more strongly than anticipated, Verstappen said: "It is where I expected to be.

“You could see in that first stint that we were lacking a little bit of pace compared to the McLaren, but it's still 18 points more than I had here last year, so I take that.”

Verstappen was the sole Red Bull driver to score points, with new team mate Liam Lawson amongst those to crash out of the race.