Verstappen knocked out in Q2 at Suzuka: ineffective updates and balance problems sink the Red Bull of the four-time world champion.
It was certainly a Saturday to forget for Red Bull and, above all, for Max Verstappen, who was eliminated in Q2 by rookie Arvid Lindblad, despite running the new upgrade package fitted to his car. In contrast, Isack Hadjar managed to reach the final phase of qualifying, but finished in P8 – behind Pierre Gasly – while still recording a gap of more than one second to pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli.
If in Milton Keynes they had been hoping for a positive outcome from the work carried out over the past month ahead of Suzuka, reality ultimately proved quite harsh. After learning of his elimination, the four-time world champion commented on the feeling with the car, highlighting a worrying situation.
“Something is wrong with the car. It suddenly became undriveable in this session. The rear was bouncing repeatedly through the high-speed sections.” Words that, for now, reject the “weight-loss cure” that engineers led by Pierre Waché had applied to the car.
Japan GP – Red Bull, Max Verstappen unhappy: “The car became undriveable during qualifying”
When asked what he meant by the car being undriveable, considering his RB22 was the only car to receive the new upgrade package, the Dutch driver confirmed there are issues he cannot fully reveal in detail.
“The car never turns mid-corner. At the same time, once again this weekend, I had a lot of oversteer on corner entry,” Max Verstappen complained. “That makes everything unpredictable. The car is undriveable.”
“We thought we had patched up this problem in FP3, although I still had understeer. But now, in qualifying, the feeling was that I had a car in my hands that was not easy to drive. We need to try to fix this problem.”
“We are also running a new aerodynamic package. However, it clearly doesn’t seem to be working, and that’s not good. We have obvious problems that I can’t clearly explain here. Sometimes they are just a bit worse.”
Verstappen’s difficult period continues
The picture is therefore far from reassuring for the Milton Keynes-based team, which is now called to react quickly to prevent these technical difficulties from further compromising the Japanese Grand Prix weekend.
These negative feelings add to an already complicated start to the season and raise further questions about the real effectiveness of the upgrades introduced.
In this context, Max Verstappen’s struggles to adapt to the new regulations appear far from over, suggesting a difficult road ahead in regaining competitiveness and confidence behind the wheel.
Meanwhile, he must also watch out for a determined teammate who, taking advantage of the new regulations, is eager to prove his own driving ability and challenge the reigning champion.
Red Bull’s major technical gamble at Suzuka has seemingly backfired, leaving Max Verstappen stuck in the midfield. Based on the content of his post-qualifying outburst, the team may be forced to revert to a previous specification if they cannot find a way to stabilize the RB22’s unpredictable handling.
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