“I’m not here to be second”: Verstappen on his podium finish in Saudi Arabia

Max Verstappen was not content with passing 13 drivers en route to second place in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, and called for Red Bull Racing to improve their reliability.

The Dutchman was forced out of qualifying early on Saturday with a driveshaft issue, which meant he would start 15th for Sunday’s race. The world champion had dominated the first three free practice sessions and looked on course for a comfortable pole position - a spot which would be taken by team-mate Sergio Perez.

While Verstappen would easily make his way up the order to finish in second behind the Mexican, as Red Bull claimed their second 1-2 finish in as many 2023 races, the 25-year-old cut a despondant figure in the aftermath of the race, having claimed more reliability issues in the closing stages in Jeddah prevented him from closing in on Perez to battle for the lead.

“Of course, I recovered to second which is good, and in general the whole feeling in the team, everyone is happy, but personally I’m not happy, because I’m not here to be second,” he said.

“My first weekend [in Bahrain] was not very clean, because of just the big balance shift from testing to the race weekend, some other things which were going on in the background, and now again after three positive practice sessions of course I have an issue in qualifying.

“Especially when you are also working very hard also back at the factory to make sure you are arrive here in a good state, making sure everything is spot on, and then you have to do a recovery race – which I like, I mean I don’t mind doing it – but when you are fighting for a championship and it looks like it’s between two cars, we have to make sure the two cars are reliable.”