After a "tough start", Verstappen didn't expect to qualify in the top three

Red Bull's RB21 showed clear signs of improvement, having looked difficult to drive in F1's FP1 and FP2 sessions in Melbourne

Max Verstappen admitted to some surprise in finishing third in Formula 1 qualifying for the Australian Grand Prix, following Red Bull's turnaround in fortunes after a lacklustre pair of Friday practice sessions.

The reigning champion ended up fifth in FP1 and seventh in FP2 after struggling with a wayward RB21 chassis during his qualifying simulations, while his new team-mate Liam Lawson found the car even harder to drive and sat in the bottom quarter of the timesheets.

Overnight work seemed to bring the Red Bull into a much better frame; Verstappen was just 0.081s away from Oscar Piastri's FP3 benchmark to sit third fastest, and reclaimed that position in qualifying – albeit 0.385s shy of Lando Norris' pole lap.

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Reflecting on qualifying, Verstappen explained that the car was still lacking a little bit of outright pace, but that the balance changes had made it much easier to get the tyres into the right window for a qualifying lap.

"We had a bit of a tough start. This has never really been a good track to us I think as well, so it took a bit of time to understand how we can improve the situation, and we did that today," Verstappen suggested.

"I'm quite surprised to be sitting here [in the press conference] after yesterday! I felt confident. I felt one with the car. Of course, clearly it was lacking a bit of pace, but overall, happy with the laps in qualifying.

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

"We were just trying to fine-tune the balance, and the car just came alive a little bit more in general, it was quite OK to drive because it was too slow.

"Today it was a little bit faster, but clearly still not fast enough. But still, to be ahead of Ferrari and Mercedes I think is good for us."

Verstappen also noted that the sensitivity of the tyres, particularly in the higher-speed corners, made it difficult to maintain the pace through the lap – a phenomenon shown in the drop-off in the final sector, as Verstappen often showed up well in sectors one and two.

He stated that he didn't expect "miracles" from Red Bull's long-run pace, which was found to be the fourth-best in the field when accounting for the medium-tyre stints - although this was before the team made changes to the RB21's set-up.

"I don't expect like any kind of miracles about it, I think [long-run pace] is OK. But I think it's not on the same level [as the McLarens]. I'll just do my best to see what happens tomorrow."