An overheating right-rear brake for Max Verstappenan issue that hobbled him from the start, forced his early retirement as Carlos Sainz led team-mate Charles Leclerc for a Ferrari 1-2.
McLaren split the strategies of its drivers. Lando Norris was faster late on so allowed to pass Oscar Piastri in a team orders switch at the latter’s home race, as they bagged a 3-4 result.
Sergio Perez fifth finished, gaining only one place in the race thanks to Verstappen’s woes.
Stella believes that even without the reigning champion’s troubles, the RB20s would not have enjoyed a tire advantage in Melbourne – as the car had in the season-opening Bahrain GP.
At the end of a weekend during which tire graining on both the front and rear left corner was a major factor, Stella said: “In Bahrain, Red Bull was the only car that comfortably used the soft tires.
“But in Bahrain, you have no graining at all. No way that you are going to grain because you don’t have enough grip to stress the tires and strain the rubber to a point where the rubber generates graining.
“[Australia is a] completely different regime compared to Bahrain.
“But still, I would say, harnessing this matter from an engineering point of view and saying, ‘Oh, it’s very clear what we need to do on the car to be OK in Bahrain, and to be OK here’ – that’s not straightforward at all.
“Otherwise, everyone would be in a good spot. It’s really difficult.
“But I think even [in final practice] when Verstappen attempted a long run – that wasn’t a good long run.
“We took a look at his tires at the end of the long run, and they were pretty finished in 10-15 laps or so.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20
Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool
Stella reckoned, though, there was a high chance the tire behavior could have changed “dramatically” had conditions been only marginally different.
He added: “Red Bull did not enjoy any advantage, apparently, from a tire handling point of view, in a track where the tires were very soft and graining.
“It could be that we go in a similar track and things actually be slightly different – it’s one of the problems that you would call non-linear.
“You change a little bit the conditions and the solution changes dramatically. “That’s typically what happens with tires.”
