Red Bull Racing
Max Verstappen
“The first laps were pretty hectic and we just needed to stay out of trouble. I had some issues at the start with the battery so as soon as the clutch was dropped, I had no power so that is something we need to understand. We then got quite cleanly through the field, did some decent overtakes and learned a bit about what we could do.
"We settled into our own race but unfortunately had a little too much degradation; the tyre behaviour was surprising as we had a lot of graining on the Hard compound, which of course compromised our stints and meant that we couldn’t really fight for more. So, this is something that we need to go back and understand a bit more. We also tried everything at the end to overtake again and gain a position but when we got close my tyres opened up.
"Overall the Team still did a great job: it was a decent comeback from P20 and we will work as a Team to close the gap further.”
Isack Hajar
"Today was frustrating. I was confident that we could challenge for the podium so this result is a shame. I felt really strong off the line but unfortunately the issue we had came up straight away. The reliability we had throughout the weekend was good, but of course, the race is different and I could feel that there was a problem quite early on.
"The car was making a funny sound and I knew that we weren't going to make it to the end. It's frustrating, but these things can happen and we're so early on in our journey. We quickly go onto China with a short turnaround but I'm confident that we're going to learn from this.”
Laurent Mekies – Team Principal
“This has been a very important weekend for Formula 1, the first race of a new era for the sport and, after weeks of speculation, fans were treated to an enthralling contest this afternoon in Albert Park. With such a radical change to the technical regulations, some retirements were inevitable and it’s unfortunate that one of those was Isack, after he did so well to claim third place on the grid.
"Looking at the positives, the remaining three Red Bull Ford Powertrains powered cars saw the chequered flag, two of them in the top ten. And in case anyone needs reminding of what an exceptional driver Max is, he put in a fantastic performance to go from 20th on the grid to sixth at the finish. We acquired a lot of data this weekend that we will put to good use in just a few days’ time in China.
"We will do this more than ever this season and this was certainly a development and learning race for us. We always know that we can count on everyone back in Milton Keynes to push very hard and take us to the next level.”
