Red Bull’s Shanghai disaster: Max Verstappen finishes P8 as the RB22 loses “geological eras” in the corners. Max Verstappen struggled in the China Sprint Qualifying.

Max Verstappen ended the Sprint Qualifying in eighth place, a second and seven tenths behind George Russell in the Mercedes, expressing clear frustration over Red Bull’s performance.

Red Bull in trouble

Sixth fastest in SQ2, barely scraping into SQ3, and finishing fifth in SQ3—1.7 seconds off pole—the reality for Red Bull is hard to digest. The main problem is not the power unit, but the car itself.

The RB22 is currently a disaster in the corners. It’s a chassis issue, a suspension problem, a mechanical imbalance—overall, the car loses massive amounts of time compared to its rivals. Verstappen struggled throughout Friday, even running wide at the final corner at the end of SQ1.

Max Verstappen explains

The entire day has been a disaster, said a frustrated Max Verstappen, expressing his dismay via radio over the RB22’s behavior. We have no grip; I think this is the main problem. There’s no grip, no balance. We’re simply losing so much time in the corners. And obviously, because of this, other small problems start to emerge. But the main issue for us is that we’re completely lost in the corners. Can we change anything for the Sprint? I really don’t know what we can do at the moment. We’ll see.

Max

Verstappen’s comments therefore highlight a shocking fall from grace for the team that dominated the first part of the previous regulatory era. While the 2026 Power Unit transition was always expected to be a hurdle, the fact that the RB22 is struggling so significantly with mechanical grip and cornering balance suggests a deeper aerodynamic or suspension miscalculation. In a Sprint weekend where track time is minimal, finding a magic fix for such a fundamental “lost” feeling is nearly impossible. As the Silver Arrows of Mercedes and the resurgent McLarens pull away, Red Bull faces a race against time to prevent their 2026 campaign from spiraling into a mid-pack battle. For Verstappen, the frustration is palpable; the man used to leading from the front now finds himself fighting just to keep the car on the grey stuff.