Max Verstappen has confirmed he has not suffered any broken bones after he was seen holding his hand following his qualifying crash in Melbourne. His Red Bull skipped across a sea of gravel before slamming hard into a barrier, after his rear wheels locked up under braking and the Dutchman lost control of the car.

Verstappen seemed to be in some discomfort as he walked away from his stricken Red Bull and visited the Albert Park Circuit medical centre after he was ferried back to the paddock. But he has confirmed that no lasting damage has been done, telling reporters: “Nothing broken. With the steering wheel, when I hit the wall… but nothing is broken.”

What left Verstappen significantly more bemused was that he had been made a passenger in the car by the failure on the rear axle as both wheels suddenly locked up when he tapped the brake pedal. “I’ve never experienced that in my whole life,” the baffled four-time world champion asserted.

“I just hit the pedal, and the whole rear axle just completely locked. Especially with these Formula 1 cars, it’s very weird.” He confirmed he did not yet have any indication as to what had caused the usual problem to occur, explaining that he had not yet spoken to colleagues or seen any data around the circumstances of his crash.

Verstappen also took the opportunity to again voice his concern about this new generation of F1 cars. He has been among the most vocal critics of the 2026 regulations, especially the increased reliance on electrical power from the engine, and revealed that he had used the drivers’ briefing on Friday night to again make his point to the sport’s rulemakers.

He said: “I said how I thought about it. I’m definitely not having fun, at all, with these cars. I don’t know, you can make up your mind but I think, if you look at the onboard, you’ll see I’m right. There’s nothing that you can do. You can only make it slower, and then, of course, you get a bit more of a normal speed trace, but it’s a slower speed trace. The formula is just not correct, and that is something that is a bit harder to change. But I think we need to.”

And he gave no indication at all that he feels things will improve over the course of the year, adding: “It’s going to be a long season.” Verstappen was also unwilling to speculate about what he might be able to achieve in Sunday’s points, beyond telling reporters he’ll be pushing to score as many points as he can from his lowly starting position.

George Russell took pole position as Mercedes flexed their muscles, with team-mate Kimi Antonelli now confirmed as the driver set to start second after avoiding a grid penalty from two post-qualifying investigations. There was at least some joy for Red Bull as Verstappen’s new team-mate Isack Hadjar had a very impressive debut by qualifying third.