Max Verstappen detailed how a “double whammy” of problems hampered his efforts in qualifying for the British Grand Prix, with the Dutchman admitting the problems made the session “very painful” on the way to P7.
After battling hard in the sprint before returning to sixth place, Verstappen and Red Bull initially looked to have made a decent start to qualifying, with the four-time world champion finishing the first quarter in third place while teammate Isak Hajjar was fastest.
However, there were some problems as the session progressed, with Verstappen reporting that the engine “didn’t respond as normal” in Q2, before he found himself seventh – behind Hajjar in fifth – as Q3 came to an end.
Recalling qualifying after getting out of the car, Verstappen explained: “(There were) two things. The whole session seemed, of course, not good balance, but at the same time terribly slow in the straight for some reason, even compared to the other car.
“We couldn’t fix it from the first run until the very end. I mean, when you’re going slow in a straight line, you’re going full throttle, you’re burning up more battery… so it’s like a spiral, and by the end of the lap it’s getting worse and worse. It’s like a double whammy, so it hurts a lot.”
Asked if fighting the McLarens looked like the best-case scenario for Sunday’s race – and if Mercedes and Ferrari were out of reach – the 28-year-old said: “We need to solve our own problems first.
“When you just don’t have enough top speed anymore, it’s a serious problem, so we need to understand that for tomorrow as well.”
On the other side of the garage, Hajjar looked happier with how the RB22 was feeling, but admitted it was difficult to keep up with the pace of the team’s rivals.
“I think yesterday I was quite happy with the car – I think I just took a step, on the second day, made a step in terms of driving and very few mistakes,” said the Frenchman.
“So I think it was good, but it’s still tough when you’re six-tenths off pole after a really good lap. And the thing is, I feel the car is pretty good, so at the moment it’s hard to see how we can fight forward.”
Hajar admitted that the Mercedes and Ferrari cars were too far behind in Red Bull’s fight, adding: “I think you saw today’s sprint race was pretty clear, the race pace rankings were like Mercedes, Ferrari, then McLaren and then us.
“And I think if we can move the fight to McLaren, that’s a very good job.”