After a frustrating Sprint Qualifying on Friday, the sprint race turned into a complete disaster for Max Verstappen and his team, Red Bull Racing.
The Dutch ace plummeted from P8 to P20 at the start. Even Sky Germany’s commentators couldn’t hide their sarcasm during the replay: “This is going to be another fun post-race interview.”
And, of course, the experts were right. The confusion and struggles for Verstappen and Red Bull show no sign of stopping. Even in China’s qualifying, they had nothing to do with the top spots. Verstappen is already bracing for the worst when race day arrives.
Massive Frustration for Four-Time World Champion Max Verstappen
At the Shanghai sprint race, Max Verstappen lined up in P8 — an unusual sight for the success-hungry Dutchman. So far, Verstappen hasn’t held back when it comes to the new F1 rules and cars, even calling the package “Formula E on steroids.”
After his disastrous start in the sprint race, where he plummeted to P20, Max Verstappen let off steam with Sky: “Right now, I don’t have many words. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. We’ve got more problems than expected.”
Later, in a qualifying session once again dominated by Mercedes, Verstappen could only manage a disappointing P8. The switch to the new technical regulations clearly hasn’t gone smoothly for Red Bull: Verstappen’s new teammate, Isack Hadjar from France, finished P15 in the sprint and P9 in qualifying.
Even before the second Grand Prix of the season, the Dutchman looked completely lost and didn’t hide his frustration. He vented: “Every time I did another lap on the tires, it was brutal. Tomorrow is going to be tough.”
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But it didn’t stop there. After qualifying, he likened driving the car to a battle for survival. The 28-year-old added: “It doesn’t feel good. Whenever we’ve completely shaken things up in the past, it worked. Not here so far. I can’t push. Every lap is a survival. It’s not fun at all. No matter what I do, nothing works.”
Ex-drivers weigh in on Verstappen’s Red Bull woes. Sky Sports F1’s Jacques Villeneuve said: “The car is unpredictable. Even last year when the car was slower, there was some form of balance and he could drive the car.”
“He was not reacting to the car, the car was reacting to him which means you can feel the car, set it up, gain a tenth or two here, can push hard and it will react, and the team knows how to develop it.”
“When we see the rear [of the car] kicking around, that doesn’t mean he has oversteer. It can still be an understeering car but at some point the rear kicks around, it never does the same thing and he ends up being a driver that reacts to the car. When that happens, you can set it up.”
It’s going to be interesting to see whether Max Verstappen can finally get a grip on his car’s issues at the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday and claw back into the top positions.
When asked what result might be possible in the race, Verstappen didn’t sugarcoat it:
“Where I’m at (on the grid). It’s not going to be a fun race.”
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