01/04/2023
NEWS STORY
Max Verstappen: "Overall, it was a pretty good qualifying. It's been tough this weekend to get the tyres in a good window to push straight away, but it all worked out in Q3 and the last run was good. I'm very happy with the lap and to be on pole position here in Australia. I'm looking forward to tomorrow, it's going to be an interesting race that's for sure. We need a clean start, and after that, hopefully we can do a good job. I've been on the podium here before but this time I want to be on a different step."
Sergio Perez: "Today was a day to forget. We have a technical issue that we're trying to get to the bottom of, we had the same issue this morning and we thought we fixed it, but as soon as I hit the braking zone it was clear we hadn't. It's very unfortunate what happened today but together as a team, we'll do our best to fix it ahead of tomorrow's race. On a track that is hard to overtake, it will be tough, but I will do what I can to get some good points for the team and work hard to get us into a good position."
Christian Horner: "Max did an outstanding job in qualifying, particularly in these conditions and on this track. Our strategy was slightly different today, we weren't doing the build and push laps, so it was all about getting the optimum out lap, getting the temperature he needed into the tyres then nailing the lap which he managed perfectly. It's hugely disappointing for Checo that he's not up there with Max. We suspect an engine setting issue contributed to a lockup that he had on his first lap in qualifying but obviously we need all the data back to analyse and ensure that if there is an issue, it's resolved for tomorrow. It's incredibly frustrating for him and the team, but he's proven himself to be a great racer and we'll be looking to make as much progress in the race as we can."
Check out our Saturday gallery from Melbourne here.