Verstappen laments a “disastrous” Friday in China following the Sprint Qualifying
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The Chinese Grand Prix weekend didn't exactly get off to the best start for Red Bull. Eighth in the only free practice session, Max Verstappen repeated exactly the same result a few hours later in Sprint Qualifying. It was a frustrating Friday for the Dutchman, who didn't mince words when summing up the day.
After the session, Verstappen was particularly critical of his car's performance during the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint Qualifying, in which he finished only 8th.
“The whole day was a disaster in terms of pace. I had no grip—honestly, I think that's the biggest problem—no balance; we're losing a ton of time in the corners, to be frank. And then, obviously, because of that, we start triggering other little issues. The main concern for us is simply cornering—it's completely off.”
In short: the RB doesn't want to turn, and on a track like Shanghai, where you spend a lot of time loading the front end in long corners, that quickly becomes a liability.
As a result, Verstappen regularly seemed to be struggling with his car, unable to really attack in the corners and forced to watch the McLarens and Ferraris pull away on the timing sheets.
Solutions Still Unclear
It remains to be seen whether Red Bull will be able to fix the issue before the rest of the weekend. But even on this point, the four-time world champion didn't seem particularly optimistic.
“We'll see. For now, I don't know what we can do, but we'll see.”
A rather revealing answer: at this stage of the weekend, the Austrian team still seems to be searching for the key to getting its car back on track.
A rather revealing response: at this stage of the weekend, the Austrian team still seems to be searching for the key to getting its car back into the right window.
Hadjar limits the damage
In the other garage, Isack Hadjar also had a busy session. The Frenchman made it into Q3 before finishing 10th, last in the top 10.
A respectable result… even if one detail is puzzling: a loss of about half a second on the straight during his fast lap.
“I don't know yet what happened or why we lost half a second. I was happy with my lap—it was good—but I don't think it will change our weekend. I'm just glad I'm not too far behind Max.”
As for the pecking order on the track, Hadjar wasn't really surprised. “No, I expected McLaren and Ferrari to be ahead. I just didn't expect the gap to widen that much.”
It remains to be seen whether the team will be able to turn things around before Saturday's qualifying and Sunday's Grand Prix.
