Max Verstappen was left frustrated with his Red Bull in qualifying for the Formula 1 Qatar Grand Prix Sprint, complaining the car was “bouncing around like an idiot”.
The Dutchman will start sixth at the Losail International Circuit, one position behind Yuki Tsunoda – the first time his team-mate has outqualified him in the same car.
Verstappen was audibly irked during the session, initially saying the car RB21 was “bouncing around like crazy,” adding that “it is just s***”.
His irritation intensified further, saying the “f***ing car is bouncing like an idiot”, before uncharacteristically going wide and off the circuit on his opening SQ3 attempt.
It is an obviously undesirable position for Verstappen to muster a challenge, especially given he needs to try and use the race to instigate the closing of his 24-point deficit to Lando Norris – who lines up third – in the championship race.
After qualifying, Verstappen explained that he suffered from both understeer and oversteer across the lap, which persisted despite Red Bull intervention between SQ2 and SQ3.
“Yeah, not good from the first lap,” he said. “Just a really bad bouncing and a very aggressive understeer that would shift into oversteer in high-speed.
“So yeah, just not what you want to go fast. So then you’re locked in and we tried to, of course, change a few things on the wheel, but it never really worked. So yeah, that made it quite tricky.”
Verstappen admits Sprint Race will be ‘about trying to survive’
When asked what was changed on the RB21 to mitigate the issues on it, Verstappen did not reveal the exact alterations.
However, he said it was a “few things”, adding: “It clearly wasn’t working well in qualifying, so that’s something that we need to understand.”
Verstappen indicated the Sprint will be a damage limitation job, and using it as a way of finding out what needs to be changed further to try and compete in qualifying for the full race.
“Yeah, but with this balance, tomorrow in the Sprint at least, it will not be a lot of fun,” he rued.
“So it will be more about just trying to survive, I guess, and then make some changes going into qualifying.”
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