Red Bull’s Max Verstappen says a “stuck” rear brake at the start of Sunday’s Australian GP put him out of contention of the race at Albert Park.
The Dutchman led the field off the grid when the lights went off, but almost immediately complained over the radio about his car’s behaviour.
Verstappen was overhauled by Sainz on lap 2 as a billow of smoke appeared at the back of his RB20, which warranted a return to the pits a lap later when the Red Bull pulled in with the rear right brake on fire.
"My right rear brake basically stuck on from when the lights went off, so the temperatures just kept on increasing and until the point of course that it caught fire," Verstappen said.
"I had that moment after the first lap, but then already the temperature was increasing and increasing, so it just works like a handbrake. But of course, I didn't know that stuff was happening. It just felt the problem was the car balance was off."
"[The team] could see what was going on, but they don't know what caused it."
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Verstappen’s retirement was Red Bull’s first DNF due to a mechanical failure since Melbourne in 2022.
"Of course, we had a lot of good races in a row, a lot of good reliability. And I knew that the day would come that you end up having a retirement and unfortunately that day was today," he added.
"We just had already a very good run of two years so that's already quite impressive. Of course, you never liked to see it happen but it's more important now that we understand why."
Verstappen’s body language as he exited his car pointed to a bout of frustration. There had been no indication on his lap to the grid of a lingering issue and all signs pointed to a potentially dominant Sunday drive at Albert Park.
"Of course, I'm disappointed with not being able to finish the race because I think we would have had a good shot at winning," he commented.
"The balance felt quite nice on that laps to the grid and I felt confident and like a good improvement compared to what I felt in the long runs that we did in practice. But yeah, some things you can't control."
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