Defending champion says they need to be \u2018faster\u2019, have \u2018zero problems\u2019 with car in future races
\n MELBOURNE
\nMax Verstappen says two things need to happen for him to have a chance of successfully defending his Formula One title and Red Bull are not managing to do either at the moment.
\nThe Dutch 24-year-old gave his verdict after suffering a second retirement in three races on Sunday, with the Australian Grand Prix leaving him a massive 46 points behind Ferrari\u2019s dominant winner Charles Leclerc.
\n\u201cWe are already so far down in the championship that from now onwards basically you first need to be faster than them (Ferrari), which we\u2019re not, and zero problems with the car which we also don\u2019t have,\u201d said Verstappen. \u201cSo it\u2019s going to be a big task.\u201d
\nVerstappen is sixth in the standings with 25 points while Leclerc, winner of two out of three and runner-up in the other race, is on 71 and with a 34-point lead over closest challenger George Russell of Mercedes.
\nThe biggest gap at the top in last season\u2019s championship was 32 points between Verstappen and Mercedes seven times champion Lewis Hamilton after Austria in July, with the pair ultimately going into the final round in Abu Dhabi level.
\nLeclerc has taken a bonus point for fastest lap in all three races and started twice on pole position in the best start to a season by a Ferrari driver since 2017, when Sebastian Vettel racked up two wins and a second place.
\nVettel did not win the title that year because Hamilton was always close behind, taking a win and two second places in the first three rounds before coming back strongly.
\nFerrari\u2019s rivals have been unreliable (Red Bull) or off the pace (Mercedes) this year and the next race is at Ferrari\u2019s home Imola circuit in Italy.
\n\u201cIt was just a terrible race, just no pace. I couldn\u2019t push because the tyres were just getting destroyed,\u201d said Verstappen of Sunday\u2019s race, in which team mate Sergio Perez finished second.
\n\u201cWe are already miles behind so I don\u2019t even want to think about the championship fight at the moment,\u201d Verstappen told Sky Sports television, saying the failure to finish was \u201cpretty frustrating and unacceptable.
\n\u201cThese sort of things, if you want to fight for the title, cannot happen,\u201d he added.
\nRed Bull blamed a fuel system problem for retirements in Bahrain, and team boss Christian Horner suspected Verstappen\u2019s failure in Melbourne might also be fuel-related<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Defending champion says they need to be \u2018faster\u2019, have \u2018zero problems\u2019 with car in future races MELBOURNE Max Verstappen says two things need to happen for him to have a chance of successfully defending his Formula One title and Red Bull are not managing to do either at the moment. The Dutch 24-year-old gave his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-254685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n