Max Verstappen calls Red Bull ‘a disaster’ after Chinese GP Sprint
Max Verstappen racing in Shanghai
Max Verstappen branded his Chinese Grand Prix Sprint a ‘disaster’ after Red Bull’s pace collapse left him outside the points in ninth.
Verstappen and Red Bull have struggled for pace throughout the early sessions in Shanghai, with Verstappen the only driver scraping through into SQ3 by 0.07s.
Max Verstappen brands Red Bull Chinese GP Sprint performance ‘a disaster’
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He lined up eighth for Saturday’s 19-lap Sprint but lost positions off the line, plummeting towards the back of a tightly-contested midfield battle for the final points-paying positions.
Verstappen fell even further back when the field pitted under the Safety Car that was out for Nico Hulkenberg’s stricken Audi. However, the bunched-up field meant the four-time World Champion could go on the attack.
And attack is exactly what he did.
Verstappen stormed through the field when racing resumed on Lap 17, bringing his RB22 home in ninth. That, though, was one position short of the points.
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“What a disaster, to be honest,” declared Verstappen to DAZN.
“From the back, trying to of course stay out of trouble. But we also didn’t have good pace, deg on the tyres, very bad deg on the tyres.
“We need to analyse why that is, because I was even losing at one point to the midfield cars.
“The Safety Car came at an okay time.”
He added with a shake of his head, “Not good.”
He wasn’t any more complimentary when he spoke with Sky F1.
“I’ve not a lot of words at the moment, to be honest,” he said. “Everything that could go wrong went wrong.
“So, yeah, start of course is one problem we have to fix.
“But, after that, the balance is all over the place.
“It’s probably the highest degradation of everyone out there, which was just uncontrollable, plus some other bits on the car that were not well-prepared.
“So, we just need to get our stuff together.”
Verstappen sits sixth in the Drivers’ standings having scored just eight points. George Russell leads the championship on 33 points.
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