Verstappen talks about problems in Jeddah: 'Sure there was something'

Verstappen drove an impressive catch-up race from 15th starting position. However, it proved not enough for victory, which went to teammate Perez. Suspected problems with the driveshaft of his RB19 helped make him decide not to push again in the closing stages of the race.

Verstappen could not close gap

"I tried to close the gap but I picked up vibrations on the driveshaft on the rear. The team couldn't see anything, but I'm fairly sure there was something odd going on with the balance since the vibrations started to kick in," the Dutchman explained. "I did the calculations and I wouldn't have been able to close the gap with just ten laps left. I think it was more important to settle for second than having an issue with the car."

He also felt the same vibrations during qualifying. "But yesterday it just went. It snapped. Today it luckily didn't do that but it started to have a similar effect on the feeling and what I could hear," the two-time world champion added to his story.

Verstappen points to Red Bull reliability

Red Bull Racing currently has a staggering lead over rival teams and Verstappen hopes that can stay that way for a long time, but reliability is crucial for that. "We need to make sure we are reliable without any issues," Verstappen said. He refers to the opening weekend in Bahrain, which also did not go entirely smoothly.

"Now again, after three positive practice sessions I have an issue in qualifying. I recovered to second which is good, everyone is happy in the team but personally I am not happy. Because I am not here to be second especially when you are working hard back in the factory making sure that everything is spot on," the Red Bull driver continued.

"Then you have to do a recovery race, which I like, I don't mind doing it but when you're fighting for a championship and it looks like it's between two cars you have to make sure those two cars are reliable," Verstappen said.