Red Bull star Max Verstappen bemoans ‘crazy’ issue in Australian GP qualifying

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Red Bull star Max Verstappen bemoaned a ‘crazy’ issue during qualifying at the 2024 Australian GP before securing his third pole position of the term already in Melbourne.

The 26-year-old has now set the fastest lap time in qualifying at each of the opening rounds this season. Verstappen also converted his P1 starts at the Bahrain GP and the Saudi Arabian GP into the race wins. Red Bull will hope the Dutchman can now take a hat-trick this Sunday.

Winning on back-to-back trips to Melbourne will also see Verstappen equal his record run of 10 consecutive Grand Prix victories. The three-time reigning champion won 10 straight races between the 2023 Miami GP to the Italian GP and is unbeaten since last term’s Japanese GP.

Max Verstappen takes pole position for the 2024 Australian GP

But Verstappen’s quest for a fourth consecutive pole position since the 2023 Abu Dhabi GP got off to a shaky start at the Australian GP. The Red Bull driver was initially only the eighth-fastest driver in Q1. He was even slower than teammate Sergio Perez following the first laps.

The Ferrari pair of Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, the McLaren drivers of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri plus the Aston Martin duo of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll were all faster than Verstappen at first. Although the Dutchman improved to fourth on his second attempt.

Red Bull star Max Verstappen did not have a perfect qualifying

Only the Ferraris and Alonso eclipsed Verstappen’s improved lap time of a 1:17.229 to sit P4 after the initial runs. But the Red Bull star remained 0.498 seconds off the 1:16.731 lap time of Sainz. So, Verstappen made it clear that he was struggling with understeer in his Red Bull.

“So much understeer,” Verstappen bemoaned over Red Bull’s team radio in Q1. “It’s crazy.”

Red Bull dialled out the understeer Verstappen had felt before he returned to the circuit for another run in Q1. The Dutchman would improve his time to a 1:16.819 to safely reach Q2, in which he set a 1:16.387 and also continued to improve in Q3 to take pole with a 1:15.915 lap.

Verstappen was the sole driver to break into the 1:15s during qualifying at the Australian GP, with Red Bull teammate Perez only setting a 1:16.274 for P3. Ferrari pilot Sainz will split the team from Milton Keynes on the front row of the grid in Melbourne after setting a 1:16.185.