Max Verstappen expects that his failure in Melbourne, almost two weeks ago, was nothing more than an incident.
After 43 finishes in a row, the world champion’s RB20 broke down after just a few laps in Australia due to a brake caliper problem. “We saw some things on Saturday that perhaps didn’t quite work as they should. In retrospect it is easy to say that we could have seen that it was the brake caliper,” said Verstappen, in the run-up to the Japanese Grand Prix. “It’s always annoying to retire, but it would be worse if there was something really wrong with the car itself. That is not the case. So I’m not worried. We have to learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen again, but normally that won’t be the case.”
Verstappen knows that Red Bull has come to Suzuka with quite a few updates. If they work, his RB20 will be even faster according to the team’s simulations. In 2022, Verstappen became world champion in Japan and last season the team won the constructors’ title. “These are of course wonderful highlights, also in the collaboration with Honda. I always enjoy being in Japan. I think I enjoy it even more now, at this time of year. We have to travel far, so it was nice to go straight from Australia to Japan and do some skiing, for example.”
Last year, Verstappen made a big impression in Japan, a week after a disappointing weekend in Singapore for Red Bul. Verstappen: “But every year is different. In Melbourne recently we were just fast, but I didn’t finish the race. We didn’t manage it in Singapore last year. Normally our car likes the fast corners, so hopefully we can show that again this weekend.”