Max Verstappen ‘surprised’ to take P3 in Australian GP Qualifying after ‘tough’ start to weekend

Max Verstappen admitted that he was “surprised” to secure P3 in Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, having experienced a “tough” opening day of action on Friday at the Albert Park Grand Prix Circuit.

Red Bull had a low-key start during the first practice sessions in Melbourne, with the Dutchman ending the day more than six-tenths adrift of the pace-setting Charles Leclerc in the Ferrari.

But Verstappen looked to be very much in the mix on Saturday, claiming provisional pole position in Q3 before being displaced by the McLarens of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Asked after Qualifying if the car had progressed during the weekend so far, Verstappen conceded: “Yeah, I think so. We had a bit of a tough start. This has never really been a good track to us as well, so it took a bit of time to understand how we can improve the situation, and we did that today.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 15: Max Verstappen of the Netherlands driving the (1) Oracle Red Bull — Verstappen was pleased to secure P3 in Qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix

“Honestly, I’m quite surprised to be sitting here after yesterday. I felt confident, I felt at one with the car. Of course clearly we’re still lacking a bit of pace, but overall happy with the laps in qualifying.

“[I] tried to really extract everything, the tyres are quite sensitive around here as well with all these high-speed corners, but I’m happy to be here.”

HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the Qualifying action as Norris snatches pole from Piastri at the Australian Grand Prix

Pushed further on the improvements that the team had made to the RB21, Verstappen continued: “[We’ve been] just trying to finetune balance.

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - MARCH 15: Pole position qualifier Lando Norris of Great Britain and McLaren — Verstappen was beaten to pole position by Norris, with Piastri set to start between them in second place

“The car just came alive a little bit more, so it was in general quite okay to drive, just too slow. Today it was a little bit faster but clearly still not fast enough. Still, to be ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes I think is good for us here.”

In terms of the squad’s long run pace looking ahead to Sunday, Verstappen suggested that Red Bull may still be some way off their rivals.

“I don’t expect any kind of miracles about it,” the reigning World Champion explained. “I think it’s okay, but it’s not on the same level [as the others]. I’ll just do my best, see what happens tomorrow.”