Max Verstappen admits that making an attempt to tame his Red Bull automotive in Qualifying for the Japanese Grand Prix “was again very difficult”, having been eradicated in Q2.
The Dutchman has dominated on the Suzuka Circuit in recent times, taking pole place and the Grand Prix victory on the final 4 editions of the race.
But the four-time World Champion will start only P11 for Sunday’s 53-lap race having failed to attain the ultimate phase of Qualifying, lacking out by practically two-tenths to Racing Bulls rookie, Arvid Lindblad.
Verstappen was additionally overwhelmed by Red Bull crew mate Isack Hadjar and located himself 1.2s behind the very best time set by Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.
It continues a troublesome begin to the season for Verstappen, having failed to rating factors in both the China Sprint or Chinese Grand Prix final outing, which included retiring within the latter due to a technical subject.
The four-time World Champion has additionally solely qalified as excessive as eighth this season, which got here in China, with a greatest results of sixth within the season opener.
“Yeah not good,” stated Verstappen within the media pen afterwards. “We thought we mounted somewhat bit in FP3 however then going into Qualifying it was again very troublesome.
“Just sliding a lot but also at the same time not having the rotation mid-corner everywhere, so that makes it quite a complicated balance. It’s not ideal around here.”
Verstappen was requested whether or not making an attempt a lot of completely different setups and automotive variations might unlock a major step ahead, an method Red Bull carried out final season with gradual success.
But Verstappen was fast to level out that this 12 months’s automotive beneath the brand new rules was proving a a lot greater drawback than it is predecessor.
“Yeah but I think we have bigger problems that what we had last year. Some parts of the car at the moment are not working how we want them to work.”
