Verstappen: Australia podium confirmed pre-season confidence

Max Verstappen feels his podium finish at the Australian Grand Prix justified Red Bull's quiet confidence with new Formula 1 engine partner Honda heading into the 2019 season.

Verstappen delivered Honda's first podium finish since 2008 after passing Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel mid-race en route to third place, finishing narrowly behind Lewis Hamilton's Mercedes in second.

The result was seen as a breakthrough for Honda, which had struggled for performance with its power unit since returning to F1 in 2015, but Verstappen said there was no big confidence boost for him as he was already impressed by the early signs from Honda prior to the start of the season.

"Not necessarily, because I was already [confident] with testing and dyno results we had before we went to pre-season testing. I felt really confident with it," Verstappen said.

"When you start driving, in pre-season, it felt nice. We didn’t have a lot of problems, so I was just really happy with what I had.

"Of course there's still a bit of question mark how competitive it’s going to be. I think it was more from the outside, people had a lot of questions.

"We were always quietly, at least from my side, confident in the package and in the engine especially and I think it showed in Australia that we’re able to overtake Ferrari on track."

Despite managing to finish between the Mercedes and Ferrari cars, Verstappen said he wants to reserve judgement about whether Red Bull can contend for the podium at every race given the particular nature of the circuit in Australia.

"Every race is a bit too early to say, because Australia is a bit of a funny track," Verstappen said.

"Bahrain and China, you will start to see a bit more of a clearer picture of what is going to happen.

"But then still, it all depends on how you bring the upgrades to the track, and how quick – and that’s on the engine and chassis side too."

Additional reporting by Haydn Cobb.