Max Verstappen harshly criticized Red Bull’s performance after the Formula 1 Chinese GP Sprint. The four-time champion stated that “everything that could go wrong, went wrong” and demanded an immediate reaction from the team before the rest of the weekend.
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The Red Bull driver had a complicated race in Shanghai, marked by problems since the start and difficulties with the car throughout the short race. Verstappen started from eighth position on the starting grid, but quickly fell to 14th place on the first lap after losing ground at the start.
The situation became even more difficult during the rest of the Sprint. The Dutchman reported excessive tire wear, something he described as practically impossible to control during the race.
Even with the safety car entry at the end of the race and the opportunity to make a pit stop, the driver was unable to recover enough positions to enter the points zone. In the end, Verstappen took the checkered flag in ninth position, 11s619 behind the Sprint winner, George Russell of Mercedes.
After the race, the four-time champion showed frustration with the car’s performance and pointed out several problems that Red Bull needs to solve before the rest of the weekend.
“I don’t have many words at this moment, to be honest. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong,” the driver stated in an interview with Sky F1.
Verstappen highlighted that the start was just one of the problems faced by the team. According to him, the car’s behavior during the race was also a major obstacle to any recovery attempt.
“The start was a problem we need to solve, but after that the car’s balance was completely out of place,” he explained. “We probably had the highest tire degradation of everyone on the track, something totally uncontrollable, in addition to other points of the car that were not well prepared.”
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The Dutchman stated that the team needs to react quickly to improve performance. “We need to get everything in order,” he said.
The Sprint was also complicated for Isack Hadjar, another driver from the Red Bull group. The Frenchman suffered damage to his car after an incident with Mercedes’ Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
Antonelli received a ten-second penalty for the contact, but still finished the race in fifth position. Hadjar, on the other hand, fell far back in the pack and crossed the finish line only in 15th.
The driver reported that the contact completely compromised his race. “Everything seemed to be going according to plan in the first sector, but Kimi braked too late and we had damage to the car for the rest of the race,” he said.
“It was quite difficult to drive after that. No conseguimos aprender nada con a corrida”, acrescentou.
Despite the difficulties faced by Red Bull, a driver linked to the group managed to stand out in the Sprint. Liam Lawson, from the Racing Bulls team, finished the race in seventh position and was the best representative of the Red Bull driver program in the short race in Shanghai.
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