Max Verstappen believes that Red Bull will “learn from” the
brake issue that caused him to retire from the Australian Grand Prix, with the
Dutchman confident that the team can perform well at the upcoming race weekend
in Japan.
Verstappen had initially looked to be on course to continue
his winning streak in Melbourne, having led the opening lap of the race from
pole position on the grid. However, after soon being overtaken by the Ferrari
of Carlos Sainz, smoke started to emerge from the rear of the RB20, forcing
Verstappen to slowly make his way back to the pits to retire the car.
READ MORE: ‘It hurts everybody’ – Red Bull say ‘lots of
lessons’ to take from first mechanical retirement since Melbourne 2022
The problem was confirmed to be with the right-rear brake
and, reflecting back on the weekend now, Verstappen admits that there were some
early indications that something may have been amiss.
“I think we saw already some signs on Saturday where things
were maybe not looking like they should have done,” the world champion
commented. “Of course, now in hindsight you can say it was coming from the
brake caliper.
“But we couldn’t find any, let’s say, fault with the car
which, in a way, it’s of course always bad to retire but when you have a fault,
it may be the build spec or whatever, then it’s a bit worse. We’ll just move on
from there and learn from it, [hope] that it doesn’t happen again but normally
it shouldn’t.
