Max Verstappen seemed on his way to a spot on the podium in the Australian GP, but twenty laps before the end the Red Bull driver retired with a technical problem.
The Limburger was in second position when the power source in the Red Bull seemed to fail. It is Verstappen’s second retirement in three races in 2022.
Sainz in the gravel
At the start of the race, Verstappen dived into the first corner behind polesitter Leclerc in second, followed by Hamilton (Mercedes), who had climbed from starting position five to third. The race was quickly neutralized with a virtual safety car, as the dramatically started Carlos Sainz (Ferrari) dug himself into the gravel with a spin.
Give and connect
The other Ferrari, that of Charles Leclerc, led the way and drove away from the rest together with Verstappen. After about ten laps, Verstappen also had to give up ground and the Limburger chose to be the first to change his tires in lap 19. Leclerc did that four laps later and saw that Verstappen was allowed to rejoin, because the race was neutralized again after Sebastian Vettel crashed.
Under fire
Verstappen immediately had to parry an attack from Russell at the restart and seemed to be able to fire World Cup leader Leclerc himself. But the top three remained in batting order and Leclerc again drove away from his pursuer.
Parked
But second place also disappeared for Verstappen like snow in the sun, when smoke came out of the Red Bull twenty laps before the flag dropped. The Limburger had no choice but to park his car on the grass and get out frustrated, knowing that precious points for him again went up in smoke. “I smelled a strange liquid,” said the raving, disappointed Verstappen on the on-board radio.
Not a happy marriage
Verstappen does not have a happy marriage with the circuit in Melbourne. In his previous five appearances in South East Australia, he has only finished on the podium once and has never won. In the past two years, the race was not on the race calendar due to the corona problem.
Imola
The next race is the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, in two weeks at the Imola circuit. Reigning world champion Verstappen travels to that circuit with one win and two outages.