‘I’ve never experienced something like that before’ – Verstappen explains cause of his Q1 crash in Australia

Max Verstappen has admitted that he has “never experienced something like that before” after a bizarre issue saw him end up in the barriers during Q1 for the Australian Grand Prix.

In the lead up to Qualifying, the Red Bull racer had consistently been in the top six drivers as everyone worked to optimise the new generation of cars for an unpredictable shootout, but the four-time World Champion had also conceded earlier in the week that the team had work to do to fight for the top positions.

Verstappen set out to post his first flying lap in Q1 after Mercedes’ George Russell set the benchmark, but his attempt was thwarted as the rear axle locked, sending him into a spin before rattling over the gravel to find the barrier.

Quizzed on how the incident unfolded after the session, he said: “I just hit the brakes and suddenly the rear axle just completely locked out of the blue. I don’t know why that happened or how that happened.

“I’ve never experienced something like that before in my career. The rear axle just completely locked on, then of course you can’t save that anymore at that speed.

“The barrier hit was not that bad – the wheel just snapped out of my hands and that’s why I had to go to the medical centre, but all good.”

Although Verstappen was fortunately uninjured, the same could not be said for his RB22, leaving the Milton Keynes squad with plenty of repairs to carry out ahead of the 58-lap race, which gets underway at 1500 local time on Sunday.

“I think it already went wrong before the downshift because I hit the pedal,” he added in an interview with Sky Sports F1. “As soon as you hit the pedal, you quite quickly downshift, but it already immediately locked on the peak of the brake pressure. Something very weird, that’s for sure.

“There are so many unknowns of course at the moment that we still need to get on top of. We’ll see tomorrow what we can do.”