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Max Verstappen let his feelings known after qualifying third in the 2025 Australian Grand Prix qualifying. The Red Bull driver, following the qualifying session, stated that he was content with P3 in Q3 after the tough outings on Friday.
Verstappen qualified behind the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri and will start the race alongside George Russell of Mercedes. The Dutchman was nearly four-tenths and three-tenths slower than pole sitter Norris and P2 Piastri and is certainly not the favorite to win the race.
"It was good. Yesterday was quite tough, so for us to be third today, I take that," Max Verstappen told Sky Sports in the post-qualifying interview. "Qualifying laps are very exciting. There's a lot of good grip around here, fast corners, and that's always fun.
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"It never felt like we nailed that bit (the tyres) but the gap was quite big to them [McLaren] so it wouldn't have mattered in terms of position."
Following this, he was asked about the difficulties given the wet weather forecast. Answering this, he added:
"For me it's fine, dry or wet. In the wet, some crazy things can happen and around here it can be slippery but it's the same for everyone."
The Red Bull driver's FP sessions were far from ideal as the defending champion complained about the balance and tire setup of the car. In FP1, he managed P5 and was nearly four and a half tenths slower than Norris in P1.
In FP2, Verstappen registered P7 and was over six-tenths slower than Leclerc in P1. In the final practice session on Saturday, the four-time world champion finished third behind Piastri and Russell and was nearly a tenth slower than the driver in P1.
Max Verstappen summed up Red Bull's position ahead of Australian Grand Prix race: "Definitely lacking a bit"
Following the conclusion of two practice sessions on Friday, Max Verstappen summed up Red Bull's form compared to McLaren. The Dutch driver was of the opinion that the Milton-Keynes-based team needs to figure out something more in order to compete with the defending champions.
"The problem is that it’s not really like I have major balance problems," Verstappen told the media following the sessions. "I think it will be a bit hard to fix. It’s also nothing that I didn’t expect when I arrived here. I’m not positively or negatively surprised with the pace we are showing. We just have to make sure that we find a bit more pace, but at the moment we are definitely lacking a bit to fight up front."
While Max Verstappen finished within the top 10s in all three practice sessions and qualified third, his new teammate Liam Lawson has seemed out of sorts during the race weekend as of now. Lawson finished FP1 and FP2 in P16 and P17, respectively, and could not run in FP3 due to a technical issue. On Saturday, he qualified in P18.
