Despite setting the fastest Formula 1 lap of the day, Max Verstappen feels he struggled to get "into rhythm" during Australian Grand Prix practice. With the second session affected by rain, the times from FP1 stood as the quickest of the day, with Verstappen's 1:18.790s enough to take top spot. The World Champion complained of braking and gear shift problems in the morning session and also suffered a high-speed spin at Turn 4. While saying the RB19 felt "good", Verstappen was far from pleased with his car.
Verstappen's mixed day
"The car felt good, as far as you can really say at this point," he explained on his website. "We never really got into a window where I felt like I had full control of the tyres. We'll have to look at that tonight, but I'm sure it will be fine. "The asphalt here is slippery and there is little grip. "That makes it difficult to get the tyres going and that's especially difficult if you want to push fresh out of the pits straight away. "And because of the red flags [in FP1] you never really get into a good rhythm." "[On Saturday] it will probably be dry, so the focus is on that, and on a dry track it's hard enough." Verstappen was hamstrung last time out in Jeddah with illness, arriving a day late in Saudi Arabia due to the bug. However, provided an update on the status of his health, commenting that: "I'm fine now, I feel the way I want to feel, and that's also important if you want to go into the weekend well."
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