Horner praises Verstappen's performance: 'Conditions made it very difficult'

Horner praises Verstappen

"These conditions have made it incredibly tricky," Horner said in a conversation with Sky Sports. "The temperature and getting these tyres into the right operating window was what it was all about. And you can see it's changed the running order a little as different cars react differently to these conditions and this track."

The Red Bull team boss once again saw Verstappen do an "outstanding job" in securing pole position. "Our strategy was slightly different, we weren't doing the build lap and push lap. It was all about getting the optimum out lap and getting the temperature he needed and then nailing the lap which he did," he continued.

Bad day for Perez

For Sergio Perez, Saturday in Melbourne went considerably worse. "Checo has had a horrible day today. It started this morning. The car was late off the weighbridge," Horner explained. "His plan in FP3 was always to run differently to Max. Not a long run, two short runs. During the first short run, there was this issue."

By this, Horner is referring to the braking problem Perez complained about on team radio. After a frustrating third practice, the Mexican then failed to recover for qualifying. Before he had even recorded a lap time, he was in the gravel. "We are just checking the data to see if there is something within the engine that has contributed to that."

Verstappen also reported possible problems on the team radio. These would involve the battery and problems with downshifting, a shortcoming that has occurred before with the RB19. "No issue with the battery. He [Max] was talking about the downshifts. The drivers have different settings they can run on the downshift. Sometimes the harshness of those shifts, particularly when it's low grip, it can cause the rear axle to lock and that's what they don't like," the Brit said.