Qualifying proved to be a frustrating experience for Red Bull at Silverstone. While Isack Hadjar secured an impressive fifth place on the grid, Max Verstappen could only manage seventh after a session affected by both setup issues and an engine-related problem. The Dutchman had looked much more competitive during Friday’s Sprint Qualifying, where he finished third, but Red Bull appears to have lost its way after changing the RB22’s setup direction.
The outlook for Sunday’s British Grand Prix is far from encouraging for the Milton Keynes-based team. The Sprint race already suggested that Red Bull lacks the race pace of both Mercedes and Ferrari, while a battle with McLaren for the position of third-fastest team now seems the more realistic objective.
Max Verstappen: “We made the wrong choices”
The four-time world champion explained that several factors contributed to his disappointing seventh place in qualifying. Alongside an unbalanced car, he also experienced a significant loss of straight-line performance caused by an engine issue that remained unresolved throughout the session.
“There were two things. Throughout the whole session we obviously didn’t have the right balance, but at the same time we were incredibly slow on the straights for some reason, even compared to the other car. We couldn’t solve the problem from the first session until the last.”
According to Max Verstappen, the engine issue created a chain reaction that made the situation progressively worse over the course of each lap.
“When you’re slow on the straights, you keep the throttle fully open and you use more battery. So it becomes a spiral that keeps getting worse until the end of the lap. It’s like a double penalty, which makes it even more painful. When you’re already lacking top speed, that’s a huge problem at Silverstone. It’s something we need to understand before tomorrow’s race.”
However, the Dutchman admitted that the problem goes beyond the engine alone, insisting the RB22 simply lacks pace across every type of corner.
“I’m just too slow. Too slow everywhere. High-speed corners, low-speed corners… the power delivery changes a bit during the lap, but overall we’re simply too slow and we also have higher tyre degradation, so everyone else pulls away from us.”
Looking ahead to the race, Verstappen acknowledged that Red Bull had also made mistakes with its setup direction.
“We’ll try to improve it. I think we made some very wrong choices, but we also have certain limitations here that we simply can’t overcome. Every weekend we bring updates, but then you have to rebalance the car because every new component changes the overall balance.”
Could Red Bull start from the pit lane?
Asked whether Red Bull could decide to make major setup changes and therefore start from the pit lane, Max Verstappen did not dismiss the possibility. He admitted that driving the current configuration under the expected race conditions would make little sense.
“If the conditions stay like this, I’ll have to drive in exactly the same way. At this point I’d rather make changes. The car isn’t unpredictable, but the balance still isn’t right and, as I said, we’re too slow on the straights.”
Verstappen also warned that Red Bull’s current weaknesses are unlikely to disappear in the next few races.
“Everyone is bringing upgrades and the technical picture can change very quickly. But beyond that, we’re simply not competitive enough. Not this weekend, and I think it will be the same at Spa and Monza. It’s a shame because Spa is an incredible circuit, but this year the feeling will be very different.”
When asked whether Red Bull can solve its problems before the end of the season, the reigning world champion remained cautious.
“I don’t know if we’ll be able to turn things around this season because we also have the limitations imposed by the budget cap. Right now we know that we struggle most at circuits where energy management plays a bigger role.”
Isack Hadjar: “It’s difficult to understand how we can improve”
After a difficult start to the weekend, Isack Hadjar produced one of his strongest qualifying performances of the season by securing fifth place on the grid, unexpectedly finishing ahead of his teammate. The French driver was pleased with his own execution, although he admitted the overall performance gap remains frustrating.
“I think yesterday I was already quite happy with the car. On the second day I made another step forward with my driving and made very few mistakes.”
Despite that satisfaction, Hadjar admitted it was difficult to accept finishing six tenths away from pole despite delivering one of his best laps.
“I think it went well, but it still hurts to be six tenths away from pole position after such a good lap. The car actually feels quite competitive, which makes it difficult to understand how we can find the performance to close that gap.”
Unlike Max Verstappen, Hadjar appeared comfortable with the RB22 throughout qualifying. However, he acknowledged that the gap to Mercedes and Ferrari remains significant and that, despite the upgrades introduced in Austria, Red Bull still lacks a clear solution to make another step forward.
Looking ahead to the race, the Frenchman believes the Sprint already revealed the competitive order.
“I think today’s Sprint race made the picture quite clear in terms of race pace: Mercedes first, Ferrari second, then McLaren and finally us. If we can at least challenge McLaren during the race, we’ll already have done a very good job.”
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