Red Bull’s Max Verstappen labels his car “undriveable” after a dismal eighth-place finish in Japan, demanding urgent fixes during the extended F1 break.
A despondent Max Verstappen declared Red Bull’s ongoing performance woes “not sustainable” after a frustrating Japanese Grand Prix that ended his four-year reign at the Suzuka circuit.
The four-time world champion could only manage an eighth-place finish, having qualified a lowly 11th in a car he described as “undriveable”.
Verstappen’s mood remained bleak post-race, with the result leaving him ninth in the championship standings and a significant 60 points behind Mercedes leader Kimi Antonelli after just three rounds.
“Yesterday was a disaster, and today in the race I just maximised my race but the feeling in the car is just the same as qualifying,” said Verstappen.
The Dutch driver added that he was merely “trying to hang on to it basically in the race” throughout the grand prix.
With an extended break now before the next Formula One race in Miami on May 3, following the cancellation of April’s Bahrain and Saudi Arabian events, Verstappen plans to seek a change of pace.
“I’ll do some more racing, some stuff that makes me smile,” he stated regarding his plans for the hiatus.
Verstappen emphasised, however, that he would also be working with the team “to try and find more pace and some more stable balance because this is not sustainable for us as a team”.
“We need to work hard to understand our problems and bring improvements,” he concluded.
His teammate Isack Hadjar also endured a difficult Sunday, falling from eighth on the grid to finish 12th.
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies acknowledged the scale of the challenge, confirming there was “not just one area we can pinpoint as being the cause of our difficulties”.
Mekies promised that while the team “won’t have solved everything by the next race”, they would “do the heavy lifting and get to the bottom of our difficulties”.