Verstappen: Red Bull F1 Car “Undriveable” & “Like Survival” in China GP

SHANGHAI – Max Verstappen painted a grim picture of Red Bull Racing’s performance at the Chinese Grand Prix, declaring “every lap is like survival” in a scathing assessment after qualifying eighth for Sunday’s race. The four-time World Champion’s frustration boiled over after a weekend already marred by struggles, culminating in a qualifying session that left him almost a full second off the pace set by Kimi Antonelli.

Verstappen’s weekend began poorly with a compromised sprint race. A power issue off the line immediately dropped him several positions, ultimately preventing him from scoring any points. Saturday’s qualifying session offered little respite, mirroring Friday’s struggles with Verstappen and teammate Isack Hadjar locked in a midfield battle for position.

“We changed a lot on the car to make zero difference,” Verstappen stated bluntly. “So the whole weekend we’ve been off. The car is completely undriveable. Even set a bit of a reference in.”

The sudden downturn in performance comes as a surprise following Hadjar’s strong qualifying performance in Australia a week prior, where he secured a second-row start. This stark contrast highlights a growing concern for Red Bull – a reliance on chassis limitations rather than issues with their new in-house engine.

While acknowledging a potential contribution from the engine, Verstappen emphasized the car’s fundamental issues as the primary culprit. A theory circulating suggests the Red Bull engine’s efficiency in energy harvesting may be advantageous on tracks like Melbourne, where recharging opportunities are limited. Yet, on circuits like Shanghai, where energy deployment is more crucial, a power deficit appears to emerge. Nevertheless, Verstappen insists the car remains the core problem.

“push at all because the car doesn’t let me,” he explained. “That’s why I don’t really feel in control of the car. It’s not how it should be.”

Verstappen’s discontent extends beyond this specific race weekend. He lamented a lack of balance, describing a constant struggle with both oversteer and understeer. This frustration reflects a broader dissatisfaction with the current generation of Formula 1 cars, a sentiment he has voiced repeatedly since the introduction of the new regulations. “From lap one of this new regulation, I’ve not enjoyed this car, for sure,” he added.

His comments were echoed in post-session interviews, where he described attempts to rectify the car’s issues as futile. “Turned it upside down, it was exactly the same,” he said. “I’m not enjoying it at all. There’s no balance – lean on the car. Every lap is a fight.” He also referenced past successes with Red Bull, noting that previous iterations of the car responded positively to drastic setup changes. “In the past, sometimes we would throw it upside down and it would work,” he recalled. “It hasn’t worked here.”

Red Bull’s inability to diagnose and address the underlying issues is a major concern. The team suspects temperature may be a contributing factor, but this remains a broad hypothesis. Hadjar suggested the track layout itself may be exacerbating the car’s limitations. “We are on the edge of what we have as a package,” Hadjar said. “We’re grip limited now. We just need more load everywhere.”

Looking ahead to the Grand Prix, Verstappen stressed the importance of avoiding a repeat of his poor start in the sprint race, which was attributed to a similar power delivery issue experienced by Liam Lawson in the Racing Bulls team. He expressed hope that the problem would be resolved before Sunday’s race, acknowledging that a clean start is crucial, even if his expectations for a strong result remain low. “It helps a bit to stay in position instead of starting a race with P20! Realistically, that’s anyway where we are fighting, P7, P8,” he said. “It’s not going to be a fun race.”

Team boss Laurent Mekies acknowledged the team’s struggles, stating that they had made “a little bit of progress to close the gap in terms of performance, but it’s of course not enough and not something we can be happy with.” He emphasized the importance of understanding the root cause of their difficulties during Sunday’s race. “It’s important Red Bull completes our understanding during the race tomorrow of why it has been more difficult for us this weekend compared to Melbourne.”