Verstappen: "Something broke off the car"

The Dutchman had a spin at turn one chasing down Kevin Magnussen.

Max Verstappen had an uncharacteristically scrappy race on Sunday. The Red Bull driver started 4th but quickly found himself relieved of the position by a fast-starting Kevin Magnussen.

Decent pace from the Haas and the notoriously difficult-to-pass traits of the Albert Park Circuit meant that Verstappen was stuck behind the Dane for several laps, resulting in overheated rear tyres, a mistake and spin in turn one, and a drop down the order. Verstappen was quick to radio into his team to tell them that he felt damage due to understeer.

Red Bull confirmed after his first stop that they did indeed find damage on the car

"After a decent first get away, a bit unlucky at Turn One and got a bit caught out and lost a position," Verstappen said.

"Suddenly I had a lot of issues with the car, balance problems, we found out after four or five laps something broke off the car, and all the time in the middle of the corner was losing a lot of grip and at one point I got caught out at Turn One and spun.

"It’s not ideal but luckily with the 360 I didn’t lose too many positions. After that you are in the hunt but you can’t overtake on this track so it’s a bit of a shame.

"With the circumstances we were in, the damage we had, we still scored some points.

"As soon as we were in clean air the pace was good. We don’t need to worry, we just need to focus on getting a clean qualifying and then in the race everything should sort itself out."