Verstappen: No clear fix for Red Bull's early season F1 struggles

Verstappen was forced out of the Australian Grand Prix on Sunday with 20 laps remaining due to a fuel system issue, costing him a likely second-place finish.

Verstappen also failed to finish the season-opener in Bahrain last month due to a separate fuel pump problem, causing him to lose significant ground in the early title battle.

The Dutchman lies sixth in the standings with 25 points – all picked up with victory in Saudi Arabia - and is 46 points off runaway drivers’ championship leader Charles Leclerc.

Verstappen called the issues “unacceptable” after the race, and later explained to the written media in Melbourne that Red Bull had a “lot of things to work on”.

“First I'll go home, I'll talk to the team also when I'm back at home,” Verstappen said.

“We’ll try and forget today and wake up tomorrow and focus again on the coming races.

“But also, it doesn't look like there's a clear fix. So we need to work hard to try and improve our reliability.”

Verstappen had managed to battle Leclerc closely in both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, but struggled to put up any kind of fight to the Ferrari driver through the Australia weekend.

Leclerc took pole position by almost three-tenths of a second on Saturday at Albert Park, and controlled proceedings at the front despite two safety car restarts. He ultimately finished the race 20 seconds clear of Sergio Perez, who picked up second place for Red Bull after Verstappen’s DNF.

Before his retirement Max Verstappen was powerless against Ferrari's Charles Leclerc

Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images

Verstappen explained that he had struggled throughout the weekend with the balance on his Red Bull RB18 car, making it hard to get close to Leclerc.

“Balance-wise, I'm struggling so