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VERSTAPPEN MUST LEARN LESSONS FROM AUSTRALIA TO COMPETE FOR WORLD TITLE

▶ Dutch driver expected to challenge in Melbourne but small mistakes had a big effect, writes Graham Caygill

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Lewis Hamilton could be forgiven if he spent much of his time between now and the start of the Bahrain Grand Prix on April 8 thinking about what could have been.

The world champion dominated qualifying and then the opening stages of the Australian Grand Prix, the opening round of the 2018 Formula One season, but missed out on victory to Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel.

While it might not be much of a consolatio­n, Hamilton can be content that he did not put a wheel wrong and that it was a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) period and his Mercedes-GP team’s misjudgmen­ts that led to him having to settle for second spot.

The same could not be said of Max Verstappen, who endured one of his scrappiest weekend performanc­es since joining Red Bull Racing in 2016.

The Dutchman confessed that an error in qualifying cost him a chance of starting on the front row alongside Hamilton in Melbourne.

Instead he had to start fourth on the grid behind the two Ferraris of Kimi Raikkonen and Vettel. That would prove extremely costly.

He made a decent launch off the line at the start, but got boxed in behind the Ferrari pair on the run to Turn 1 and fell to fifth when he was passed around the outside by the opportunis­tic Kevin Magnussen in his Haas.

Magnussen, despite the considerab­le improvemen­ts of the Haas from 2017, was no match for the speed of Hamilton and the Ferraris and was dropping a second a lap to the cars in front.

Verstappen was stuck behind him but compounded his situation by pushing too hard and spinning at Turn 1 on Lap 8 and dropping down to eighth.

He would finish in sixth place but it was not a weekend he will look back on with any great fondness.

The Red Bull had good pace all weekend. Maybe not the equal of Mercedes, but certainly a match for Ferrari.

That was supported by Verstappen’s teammate Daniel Ricciardo, who had got past the 20 year old when he spun, hounding Raikkonen for third place in the closing laps before settling for fourth.

In hindsight, if Verstappen had enjoyed a clean weekend and not made his error in qualifying, he could have been on for at least second place, and possibly even better if the VSC had worked out for him as well as it did for Vettel.

Even without the spin he would have likely finished fourth.

So there is a lot for Verstappen to reflect upon, in terms of dropped points, before he arrives in Bahrain.

This is not meant as a criticism of Verstappen. He has been a revelation in Formula One and some of his performanc­es in 2017 were sensationa­l. To win two races in arguably the third-fastest car in the field, performanc­e wise, was a real achievemen­t.

Australia was a reminder to Verstappen of the small margins in F1 between success and disappoint­ment.

One small mistake in qualifying transforme­d his weekend and turned aspiration­s of victory into a much harder race that created more problems.

Red Bull appear to have made a step forward in performanc­e over the winter and they had reason to be encouraged by the weekend’s result.

But they still appear to have an engine in the Renault that is no match for the Mercedes and Ferrari.

That seemed the case in Verstappen’s inability to pass Magnussen, although Albert Park has never been a particular­ly easy venue on which to overtake.

Verstappen left Melbourne with eight points, rather than a possible 18 for second, or even 12 for fourth.

There are still 20 races of the season for Verstappen to bounce back, but if he is has aspiration­s of challengin­g Hamilton and Vettel for the title, and becoming the sport’s youngest champion in the process, then the mistakes, even the small ones, need to be eliminated.

Australia was a reminder to Verstappen of the small margins in F1 between success and disappoint­ment

 ?? EPA ?? Max Verstappen had a spin on Lap 8 at Albert Park, Melbourne, besides an error during qualifying earlier
EPA Max Verstappen had a spin on Lap 8 at Albert Park, Melbourne, besides an error during qualifying earlier

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