Max Verstappen has shared his disappointment after an “unfortunate” rear brake failure during the Bahrain Grand Prix, which pitched him out of the race during the early stages.
The Dutch driver started from sixth place but battled up to fourth on the opening lap, keeping in touch with the leading three drivers, before electing to make his pit stop comparatively early.
However, just after emerging from the pits, he went straight on at Turn 4 due to a rear brake failure and nosed the barriers, retiring from the race.
“I had a good start, Kimi [Raikkonen] struggled a bit off the line so I passed him straight away and then I went round the outside at Turn 1 and overtook Daniel [Ricciardo], which put me in a good position,” he explained.
“After that I could keep up with the leaders, the car was performing really well on the tyres and the pace was good.
“I think we made the right call with the pit stop to try and undercut the two Mercedes but then the rear brakes failed on lap 12 and it was race over.
“These things are all a part of racing and there are definitely positives to take away. The car was working a lot better here than the previous two races so it’s just an unfortunate ending as we could have scored some really good points.”
Verstappen slipped from third to fifth in the standings as a result of his retirement.
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