Max Verstappen's Alarming Red Bull Claim After Shock Brazil Q1 Exit

Max Verstappen and Red Bull experienced a nightmare qualifying session at the Brazilian Grand Prix, with Verstappen failing to advance beyond Q1. This marks his first Q1 exit on pure pace ever in Formula 1, and his first overall since Russia 2021, sending shockwaves through the paddock. Alarmingly, Verstappen stated that Red Bull has no idea what caused the RB21 to perform so poorly, leaving him at a loss as to “how it can be this bad.”

Why it matters:

Max Verstappen's unexpected Q1 elimination, especially due to a fundamental lack of pace, is highly unusual for the dominant Red Bull team. This incident raises serious questions about the car's performance consistency and the team's ability to diagnose and fix such drastic issues, which could have implications for their championship aspirations and competitive edge.

The Details:

• Verstappen will start 16th on the grid for Sunday's Grand Prix, a position he's rarely found himself in without a grid penalty.
• He lamented to Sky F1 after his elimination, stating, “It was just bad. I mean, I couldn’t push, at all. The car was all over the place, sliding around a lot.”
• Verstappen emphasized that he “had to underdrive it a lot, just to not have a moment, and that, of course, doesn’t work in qualifying.”
• Crucially, both Verstappen and Red Bull reportedly have “no idea” why the RB21 was so slow. Verstappen stressed, “We first have to analyse what is going on. I don’t really understand how it can be this bad. So that’s a bit more important to understand at the moment.”
• Post-qualifying, Verstappen reiterated to the media that “it seems like we don’t really understand why” the RB21's performance took such a drastic turn for the worse.
• He added, “Just no grip. Changed a few things in the car and it didn’t work, so that’s something that we need to figure out.”
• Verstappen further elaborated that “Nothing really seems to work. We changed a lot on the car, and, yeah, we just don’t understand. Something is clearly just not working for us. Even with the changes of the set-up, normally, you would feel some kind of reaction, but it doesn’t. So, yeah, something is just really off.”

What's next:

While Verstappen managed to recover to fourth from P6 in the Brazil Sprint, the challenge on Sunday will be significantly tougher from 16th on the grid with a seemingly unpredictable car. The immediate priority for Red Bull will be an intensive analysis to understand the root cause of this alarming lack of pace. Their ability to quickly diagnose and rectify this issue will be critical for the remainder of the season and future races. Verstappen also admitted that, at this point, he can “forget about” the idea of winning a fifth consecutive Drivers’ title, going into the race 39 points behind Lando Norris.