Christian Horner responds to Max Verstappen’s Red Bull complaints after Australian Grand Prix qualifying

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is still confident his team can win Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix despite Max Verstappen missing out on pole position.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc will start the race on pole alongside Verstappen with the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez in third, while the three British drivers on the grid, McLaren’s Lando Norris and Mercedes duo Sir Lewis Hamilton and George Russell, will line up fourth, fifth and sixth.

It was an incredibly tight qualifying session on Saturday with lap times disrupted thanks to multiple yellow and red flags, but ultimately it was championship leader Leclerc who emerged fastest, three tenths of a second quicker than Verstappen.

While still a positive result, Verstappen was left frustrated, admitting after the session that he was struggling to get the best out of his Red Bull.

‘I do not feel good. I didn’t really feel good the whole weekend so far,’ Verstappen said.

‘I don’t think there has been one lap where I have felt confident. Of course, second is still a good result but it is hard to go to the limit. For me, this weekend so far has been all over the place, happy to be second, but as a team we want more.’

The Dutchman has never won Down Under, while Red Bull have claimed only one victory round the Albert Park circuit and that was way back in 2011 when Sebastian Vettel was at the wheel.

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Nevertheless, Horner remained positive: ‘It was a great lap from Charles, but I am still pretty happy with second and third on the grid here and both