Max Verstappen, Red Bull, Albert Park, 2026

Max Verstappen was at a loss to explain the high-speed spin which pitched him out of qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver was beginning his first flying lap in Q1 when his RB22’s rear wheels locked as he braked for the first corner. Verstappen said it was “really weird” and hadn’t experienced anything similar before “in my life.”

“I didn’t speak to the team yet or didn’t look into any data, but to lose a car like that on the braking, I’ve never experienced that in my life,” he told Sky. “I hit the pedal and suddenly the whole rear axle just completely locked up. So, definitely a bit weird.”

He said the problem appeared to occur at the instant he started o=braking for the corner.

“I think it already went wrong before the downshift because I hit the pedal – and as soon as you hit the pedal because you quite quickly downshift – but it already immediately locked on the peak of the brake pressure, basically,” he said. “So something something very weird, that’s for sure.”

Verstappen made light contact with a barrier on the outside of the corner and was unable to continue in the session. He is set to start the race from 20th on the grid, while new team mate Isack Hadjar qualified third.

Team principal Laurent Mekies said the team did not immediately understand what had gone wrong. “What happened to Max is obviously very unfortunate and the most important thing is that he is okay,” he said.

“At the moment we are still trying to fully understand what happened. The loss of grip he had to deal with looked very brutal and unusual. We will need to take a deeper dive into the data and analyse everything carefully.”

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2026 Australian Grand Prix

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Keith Collantine

Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 – when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring journalist, Keith began running the site full-time in 2010, achieving a long-held ambition to dedicate his full attention to his passion for motor racing. View all posts by Keith Collantine