During Sprint qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, Max Verstappen voiced concerns about drivability issues, and Anthony Davidson later confirmed those complaints after reviewing Red Bull’s onboard footage.
Verstappen had a tough time during Friday’s session, finishing with the eighth-fastest lap. He was 1.7 seconds behind polesitter George Russell—a surprising gap for Red Bull.
This marked Verstappen’s lowest-ever finish in a Sprint qualifying session. Teammate Isack Hadjar wasn’t far ahead either, taking 10th place half a second further back.
Anthony Davidson heard Verstappen’s Oscar Piastri-style ‘torque spike’ in Red Bull onboard
Verstappen called the car’s handling “horrendous” during the session, and later added, “we never had anything this bad.” He barely got a lap in last time out in Australia after a locked rear axle sent him into the barriers.
Sky Sports pundit Davidson pointed out that he could hear the issue during a replay of Verstappen’s oversteer moment in SQ1. The sound was similar to what Oscar Piastri experienced before his crash on the warm-up lap in Melbourne.
Davidson also noted that Verstappen appears to be driving cautiously because he hasn’t built any trust with this year’s car yet.
“Let’s have a listen to this,” he said. “Oh yeah, you could really hear it, couldn’t you, as he picked up the throttle. That’s the drivability he’s talking about. That’s the exit. That is a lot of power and deployment that he wasn’t expecting.
“We would refer to that usually as a torque spike. This is what we believe contributed to Oscar Piastri’s race-ending moment in Melbourne on the out-lap.”
“It’s not nice. Every time you hit the brake pedal in any racing car, you need to know that the whole car is going to be there for you.
“As soon as you have any lack of confidence in its drivability, you start driving on the defensive. You need the car to be predictable, reliable and always do the same thing.”