Verstappen blunt reply to ‘GP’ after Gasly battle exposes Red Bull weakness
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has had a troubled start to 2026
Max Verstappen struggled to overtake the Alpine of Pierre Gasly in Japan, and told his race engineer GianPiero Lambiase that the A526 was “fast as well”.
However, GP’s response appeared to irk the Dutch racer as it was “easy” to say sitting on the pit wall.
Max Verstappen reacts to Pierre Gasly battle in Japan
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Verstappen qualified 11th at the Suzuka circuit, missing out on Q3 by 0.15s as Arvid Lindblad put in a late lap that overhauled Verstappen’s best.
The Red Bull driver wasn’t happy.
“The car never turns mid-corner,” he said after qualifying, “but at the same time, we just oversteer a lot on entries. So yeah, it’s really difficult, unpredictable,” he said.
“There’s still a lot of understeer in the car, but, in qualifying, it was, again, for me, undrivable, so that’s something that we need to look at.
“I mean, also, I’m driving with a different aero package this weekend, but it seems like that’s not working. So that’s also not very good.”
Verstappen’s complaints continued throughout Sunday’s 53-lap grand prix as the four-time world champion complained about the handling of his car and his steering wheel.
Although he made up positions off the line, once he was behind Pierre Gasly in eighth place, he just wants able to progress.
It was more of the same after the Safety Car restart for Oliver Bearman’s stricken Haas with the Alpine driver P7 and Verstappen less than a second behind in eighth.
And still he sat.
“Yeah, that Alpine is fast as well,” said Verstappen.
GP replied: “I think you’ve got two or three tenths on him but I appreciate it’s difficult to overtake.”
Verstappen said of that: “Easy to say mate when you’re on the pit wall.”
Verstappen did at one point make a move on the Frenchman when he used all his battery to pass Gasly, only for the Alpine – with better battery output, to breeze back past him on the start-finish straight.
Verstappen gave Gasly a wave.
GP told his driver: “At least we know it is possible, we can think about stat here”.
The two ended the grand prix with Gasly ahead of Verstappen in seventh, by 0.337s.
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Verstappen said of the tussle: “You just can’t pass. Well you can pass, but then you have no battery the next straight.
“So I tried one time just to have a look, so I passed him into the final chicane, but then yeah, you have no battery the next straight.
“So I was like, ‘see you later.'”
Up against Gasly’s Mercedes-powered Alpine, Verstappen admitted the battery was the biggest factor in their battle.
“I think our deployment is good, that’s also not our biggest problem to us,” he said.
“I guess correlation and a few things, calibration, we can be better actually, in terms of power, is not our worst.
“Worst thing for sure, we’re not Mercedes. They’re super strong.
“We have a lot more work to do, definitely, a lot more to do in the car currently.”
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