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“Rally car” Red Bull was undriveable in the sprint to the Qatar GP

Four-time Formula 1 champion Max Verstappen regretted his “terrible” record in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint and felt his Red Bull felt more like a rally car during the 19-lap race.

The Dutchman dropped to ninth on the first lap after being overtaken by a fast-starting Lewis Hamilton, and then his wide lines in the early corners left him vulnerable to passes from Nico Hulkenberg and Pierre Gasly.

Verstappen eventually overtook Gasly again for eighth, securing the last available point in Saturday’s race, but was unable to get close to Hulkenberg.

Speaking about his cautious race, Verstappen explained that he lost his balance and that he particularly struggled with cold tires at the start.

“I just had no grip. The balance is terrible. You suffer even more on cold tires. It felt like a rally car,” Verstappen told Viaplay.

“I think I would have been better off competing in a rally with my dad (Jos) in Spa – we would have had a better chance of being competitive there, I think. It’s really terrible, it was undriveable.”

“We can change a lot of things (before qualifying) but we can’t fix the problem. I don’t know it. We will change some things, but I don’t expect miracles.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images

Red Bull boss Christian Horner said the team had a “mountain to climb” to be competitive in qualifying and Sunday’s Grand Prix, admitting the tires were struggling to take off.

He told Sky that the team at least had data on Sergio Perez’s car to work with, after the team launched the beleaguered Mexican from the pitlane and then changed his front wing mid-race.

“This is extremely unusual for (Verstappen). You can see we just couldn’t get the tires up to speed. When the tires finally came off, the front wheel was gone,” Horner told Sky F1.

“We still have a lot to do. With the changes we made, we managed to get some data from Checo’s car and take it out of parc ferme. Hopefully this will help this afternoon, but we have some data a mountain to climb.

“You can turn things around. I mean, that’s the joy, now that the cars are coming out of parc ferme, that we can change the car.”

“I think we know some areas where we can make changes. Let’s see if we have another chance in a few hours.”

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In this article

Jake Boxall Legge

formula 1

Max Verstappen

Red Bull Racing

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