3
Max Verstappen crossed the line in fifth place for Red Bull at the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday, but although he may be disappointed not to be closer to his rivals ahead, he is at least pleased to have finished within "touching distance" of them - meaning the gap between Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes is perhaps not as wide as he may have expected.
Of his race, the Dutchman said afterwards: "The start was really good but it was just a shame that out of Turn 1 I had dirty air ahead of me, this allowed Kimi to stay on the outside and get in front of me again. From then on the pace wasn't too bad, I could follow him pretty well which was a nice surprise and I had no pressure from behind me.
"It was positive to see that we weren't that far off Ferrari and Mercedes over a full race distance, this was a concern this morning but I'm relieved now to finish within touching distance."
Verstappen also learned more about his new RB13 during the race, as he adjusted to the characteristics of the new breed of F1 car in 2017: "Physically I feel fine, you have to fight the cars a bit but to be honest I feel better than I did last year after a race distance. The car behaved and handled quite a bit better than in qualifying.
"It was hard to follow and drive close behind others, I think as soon as you get within two seconds you can really feel it and it could destroy your tyres. Looking ahead to China I think we need to keep working hard on the car, race pace was good but you can still see we are not quick enough in certain situations."
Mason Hawker
Plus hype boy had to take out the Ultra softs to get anywhere near Kimi. RBR are living in a reality distortion field.
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Grand Prix of BelgiumLocal time
Bahrain International Circuit - Winter testing
M. Verstappen
C. Sainz jr
C. Leclerc
Bahrain
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Bahrain
Bahrain International Circuit
Saudi Arabia
Jeddah Street Circuit
Australia
Albert Park
Japan
Circuit Suzuka
United States of America
Miami International Autodrome
Monaco
Monte Carlo
Canada
Gilles Villeneuve
Spain
Circuit de Catalunya
Austria
Red Bull Ring
United Kingdom
Silverstone
Hungary
Hungaroring
Belgium
Spa-Francorchamps
Netherlands
Circuit Zandvoort
Italy
Monza
Azerbaijan
Baku City Circuit
Singapore
Marina Bay Street Circuit
United States of America
Circuit of the Americas
Mexico
Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez
Brazil
Interlagos
United States of America
Las Vegas Street Circuit
United Arab Emirates
Yas Marina Circuit
755,691 comments on Red Bull Racing
968 members have this team as their favourite
Tweets about Max Verstappen
490,162 comments on Ferrari 279 members have this team as their favourite Tweets about Ferrari
Vet5
Posts: 225
Touching distance? He was 20+ seconds behind Vettel?!