Max Verstappen says his Australian Grand Prix has been "all over the place" so far, as he's struggled to gain confidence behind the wheel of his Red Bull. Verstappen snatched provisional pole position away from Ferrari's Charles Leclerc on his final run in Q3, only for the Monegasque to put in a 1:17.868 to reclaim top spot and relegate the reigning World Champion to second place. While Verstappen did end up on the front row, he has struggled for consistent balance with the RB18 throughout the weekend – evidenced by numerous small errors and brake lock-ups. "Yeah, not good," Verstappen said, when asked how he felt after claiming second on the grid for Sunday's race. "I didn't really feel good in the car [during] the whole weekend so far. I think there's not been one lap where I actually felt confident, so [it's been] a bit of a struggle."
Verstappen hopeful of race pace turnaround
While Verstappen has struggled to unlock outright lap time on a consistent basis around the modified Albert Park Circuit, he brightened up a little about his prospects in the race, as he explained he's hopeful the car will perform better over a longer run. "Probably [on] race pace, everything stabilises a bit but, for me, this weekend so far has been all over the place," he said. "Of course, [I'm] happy to be second, but I think, as a team, we want more. "Second is still a good result. But yeah, [I'm] just not feeling that great to go to the limit, so we'll try to analyse it."
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