Max Verstappen Delighted with Win after ‘chaotic’ Australian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen left Melbourne delighted after his first Australian Grand Prix win despite a chaotic race that saw three red flags.

Verstappen lost his place on the start, after starting in first place after an eventful Saturday qualifying. Both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton overtook the Dutchman as Mercedes-AMG Petronas Formula One Team looked like they may be battling for their first race win of the season.

However, the former lost out under the red flag having already pitted and then later had to retire from the race with a mechanical issue. As for Hamilton, the seven-time world champion showed some good pace but was unable to keep Verstappen behind, who had incredible straight line speed with DRS.

“My start today wasn’t amazing and then on lap 1 I was very careful as there was a lot on the line, I had a lot to lose and a lot to win. But after that restart, we had good pace and a decent gap for the majority of the race.

“It’s my first win in Australia which feels really good, it’s also been a while for the Team so it means a lot to us all, especially as Checo also had a good recovery drive today. It’s been a chaotic day but it’s great to see that the fans had a great time despite the long wait!”

Verstappen touched upon the amount of red flags that were used during the race and admitted that it may have been too many. However, the Dutchman shouldn’t care too much as he extended his lead in the hunt for a third consecutive Formula 1 World Drivers Championship.

“Perhaps we didn’t need all of those red flags today, it was frustrating, but everyone was safe and we won which is the most important thing.“

Sergio Pérez – “This race gives us confidence heading to Baku”

Sergio Pérez spent his race in Melbourne attempting to recover after a disastrous start to the weekend that saw him out of qualifying on Saturday and starting from the pitlane in the race on Sunday.

The Mexican driver, who won the ‘Driver of the Day’ award, made a number of impressive overtake moves and managed to climb up to fifth, which was a positive achievement considering the drama that unfolded throughout the race with the red flags.

“Generally, it was a good result today. Yesterday, I obviously lost a bit of confidence with the car, but we made a lot of changes overnight so that helped heading into the race. I had a really good restart the first time, I jumped 3 or 4 places but then it was a bit of a mess with the DRS train.

“I was frustrated later in the race because I couldn’t advance any further, but it was so difficult to get through the field with tyre deg low and everyone going on to the hard tyres quickly.

Pérez, who took his first victory of the season in Saudi Arabia prior to Melbourne, thought he could have finished higher but was happy to bring home fifth and an extra point for fastest lap.

“Maybe if I’d been a bit more aggressive earlier on, I could’ve finished higher, but I’m happy we finished P5 and even managed to secure the fastest lap. Overall, this race gives us confidence heading to Baku in a few weeks and we look forward to the challenge that it brings.”

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