Is Verstappen worried about reliability? "Normally not"

Max Verstappen will start from first place on Sunday and so all the ingredients seem to be in place to take another win. With a full fuel tank, the RB19 looks to be the fastest car in the field and so a good start is imperative. Verstappen is happy with his qualifying and will no doubt hope that everything stays in one piece, although he says he is not too worried about it.

"I think the last run was very good. The whole weekend has been tough to get the tyres in the right window to push straight away. It all worked out in Q3. I was very happy with my lap and happy with pole position of course. I'm looking forward to tomorrow," Verstappen said in an initial reaction to his pole position.

Over the team radio, we once again heard the two-time world champion complaining about 'downshifts'. Sergio Perez already dropped out in Q1, presumably due to a technical problem that prevented him from slowing down enough. Whether reliability is a concern for Sunday? "No, normally not. We always try to fine-tune and we will keep doing that," Verstappen said.

Long runs encouraging

It was an exhilarating qualifying session for the Red Bull Racing driver. "I almost hit a bird. Luckily that didn't happen. Sometimes these things happen on a street circuit." Had Verstappen gone through the bird, it could have possibly damaged the car.

"For tomorrow we have a good race car. It is tricky to keep the tyres alive." Verstappen has not won at Albert Park Circuit before. "I have been on the podium once before, but I would like to be on a different step tomorrow."