Max Verstappen says his Australian Grand Prix was jeopardised by his team-mate Carlos Sainz and a "miscommunication" with Toro Rosso over strategy.
After a promising start which saw Verstappen maintain fifth position from qualifying, the teenager's race fell apart after the restart following the red flag on lap 18. A slow stop on lap 33, when the team did not appear ready, saw him drop behind Sainz on track and led to first in a series of angry radio messages.
"How many times did I tell you I had problems with the tyres?" he asked the team, questioning why he had not been brought in ahead of Sainz. Verstappen soon closed up on his team-mate, who had become bottled up behind Renault's Jolyon Palmer, where both men would remain for several laps.
Verstappen demanded to be let through several times so he could have a go at passing the Renault, later telling Toro Rosso: "It's a f***ing joke, really!" while waiting for the team to order Sainz to move aside. Eventually Sainz and Verstappen passed Palmer without needing a switch but would come together later in the race, tipping Verstappen into a spin when he clipped Sainz's rear at the penultimate corner, though he recovered to maintain tenth position.
"I think you could hear how upset I was," Verstappen said. "It is a very disappointing race in general."
Asked if the result was frustrating, Verstappen replied: "Definitely, if you see [Romain] Grosjean finishing sixth with the Haas on their first race ... I think we could have done much better than that.
"Started off very good, I had a great start. From there onwards it was all going well -- the first pit stop went well and we were in a good position. Then after the red flag, where luckily no-one was hurt, we made a miscommunication with the second stop and from there on wards it was a bit unlucky and not good."
Explaining the contact with Sainz, he said: "We were on the edge of the tyres and we touched."
He was then asked why it took so long to get past Palmer, to which he simply said: "Well, there was someone in between who was holding up a lot, so...."