It was a second disastrous Sunday out of three in 2022 for reigning World Champion Max Verstappen as he retired from 2nd place in the second half of the Australian Grand Prix.

While the problem is currently unknown, the Dutchman was told to stop the car on lap 39.

Reliability problems aren’t the only issue either. Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc had better tyre life and a clear pace advantage over Verstappen throughout the race.

The 24-year-old described his second DNF in three races as frustrating and unacceptable. He sits 6th in the standings, a whopping 46 points adrift of championship leader Leclerc after Melbourne.

“We are already miles behind,” Verstappen said to Sky post-race.

“I don’t even want to think about the championship fight at the moment; it is more important to finish races.

“Of course, today was in general a bad day again. Not really having the pace, I was just managing my tyres to bring it to the end. It looked like an easy P2 anyway and I knew I could not fight Charles, so there was no point in trying to put pressure on him.

“We didn’t even finish the race, so it is pretty frustrating and unacceptable.”

Before the race, the Red Bull mechanics were seen working on Verstappen’s car and the 2021 World Champion admitted they went into the race knowing something could go wrong.

“I mean I knew there was a problem… so it was always going to be a question mark of finishing the race.

“These kind of things… if you want to fight for the title, it cannot happen.”

Asked if he knew if it was a problem they had before, he wasn’t sure.

“I don’t know. I had to stop the car; they have to get the car back and investigate.”

Gutted. Very frustrating to end another race like this as we were looking at an easy P2 😤

Congrats to @SChecoPerez on scoring another podium. 💪

We have to work hard the coming days to get on top of things and improve for Imola. pic.twitter.com/6hEUlkvwZK

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) April 10, 2022