Max Verstappen feels his podium finish at the Australian Grand Prix justified Red Bull's 🧜quiet confidence with new Formula 1 engin😼e partner Honda heading into the 2019 season.

Verstappen delivered Honda's first podium finish since 2008 after passing Ferrari's Sebastian Vettel mid-race en route to third place, finishing narrowly behind Lewis Hamilt🥃on's Mercedes i🦄n second.

The result was seen as𝄹 a breakthrough for Honda, which had struggled for performan🌄ce with its power unit since returning to F1 in 2015, but Verstappen said there was no big confidence boost for him as he was already impressed by the early signs from Honda prior to the start of the season.

"Not necessarily, because I was already [confident] with testing and dyn🎶o results we had before we went to pre-season testing. I felt really confident with it," Verstappen𝄹 said.

"When you🌳 start driving, in pre-season, it felt nice. We didn’t have a lot of problems, so I was just really happy with what I had.

"Of course there's still a bit of question mark how competitive it’s going to be. I think it was more 🎶from the outside, people had a lot of questions.

"We were always quietly, at least from my side, confident in the package and in the engine especially and I think it showed in Aust🧸ralia that we’re able to overtake🉐 Ferrari on track."

Despite managing to finish between the Mercedes and Ferrari cars, Verstappen said he wants to reserve judgement about whether Red Bull can contend for the podium at ꧙every race given the particular nature of the circuit in Australia.

"Every race is a bit too early to say, b👍ecause Australia is a bit of a fun💦ny track," Verstappen said.

"Bahrain and China, you will start to see a bitℱ more of a clearer picture of what iꦜs going to happen.

"But t♔hen stiℱll, it all depends on how you bring the upgrades to the track, and how quick – and that’s on the engine and chassis side too."

Additional reporting by Haydn Cobb.