Verstappen happy with points after wild Australian GP

Max Verstappen felt pleased to have escaped the Australian Grand Prix with some points under his belt following a wild Formula 1 season-opener for the Red Bull driver that ultimately saw him finish sixth at the chequered flag.

Verstappen had hoped to battle for victory after qualifying fourth on Saturday on an alternate strategy to the front-runners, only for a slow start to cause him to get stuck behind Haas driver Kevin Magnussen throughout the opening stages.

Verstappen sustained some damage to his front wing early on before spinning at Turn 1 (pictured above), losing three more positions in the process, but was still able to continue.

The Dutchman was then forced to hand a position back to Fernando Alonso after appearing to overtake under yellow flags, and could not find a way back through before the finish, leaving him to settle for P6.

"The start was OK but I got a bit unfortunate at Turn 1 and ended up in the wrong position so lost out on fourth. I tried to follow as best I could but experienced a few issues with the feeling of the car," Verstappen said.

"I think at about lap four or five I sustained a bit of damage on the car, I’m not sure what from as I didn’t have any contact or hit any kerbs hard. When I jumped out of the car I could see some damage and I also think something broke off so we need to investigate what that was.

"The issue made it hard to hold on mid-corner which eventually led to me spinning and then struggling for the rest of the race. Luckily I didn’t lose too many positions due to the spin and still managed to have a battle to the end.

"It is still really hard to get past the cars ahead as soon as you are within a second. This track is hard to overtake also but when you have limited grip it is extra hard. The car has been running and feeling really good all weekend so it’s a shame to have the damage and then the bad feeling during the race.

"We are happy to score some points considering the circumstances, as soon as we had clean air the pace was good. Looking ahead, I think if we can have a good qualifying and clean start, then everything else should sort itself out in the race and we can be competitive."

Reflecting on Verstappen's race, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: "He was pushing really hard and he made a mistake. The car was very difficult to drive because of the damage he picked up on Lap 6, so he was having a pretty rough ride.

"But he did incredibly well to be pushing Fernando as hard as he was at the end there. But even with a pace advantage, Lewis [Hamilton] could not pass Sebastian [Vettel], Daniel [Ricciardo]could not pass Kimi, Bottas could not pass anybody - that is the way it was."