Max Verstappen has explained more about his stoppage in Australia. The Red Bull Racing driver had to abandon the battle after only four laps due to brake problems.

"I think something already went wrong from the start," Verstappen interjected to Viaplay. "In the data, we could see that that [brake] on the right side stopped cooling down. We don't know exactly yet, so something went wrong there. Hence also the moment in turn three, where I braked and it seemed like one brake was stuck and broke out like that." The Red Bull Racing driver lost the race lead soon after.

On the first lap, the problem was not yet in play, Verstappen explained. "That very first lap the brakes are still pretty cold, but you can see that one brake was working normally. You brake and then it cools down again [normally], and that right brake didn't cool down anymore."

The Dutchman had a chance to pass Sainz again and get back to P1, but the same brake problems prevented him from doing so. "Then I was behind him, I was able to overtake again, but then he [the car] broke out again at turn six. I almost went off there again. That's pretty clear there was something wrong.

Error at Red Bull?

Was there a mistake somewhere? "We don't know that at the moment. We are all going to check that where it came from," said Verstappen, who knows there is always a chance of technical malfunction. "It's still a mechanical sport, things like that can always happen. It's a bummer though, because we did have a chance to win today."