Max Verstappen believes changes implemented by Red Bull for qualifying made ‘zero difference’, with the four-time world champion preparing to start the Chinese Grand Prix from eighth on the grid.
The Dutchman has endured a difficult start to the season with the RB22, and his fortunes did not improve in Shanghai on Saturday as he finished out of the points in the sprint.
Later in qualifying, Verstappen was unable to match the pace set by Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren, and finished almost a second behind polesitter Kimi Antonelli on the fourth row.
“It’s the same. We changed the whole car (from Sprint) and it doesn’t make any difference,” he said.
“I have no balance, so you can’t even do laps, because it’s everywhere and it’s incredibly hard to maneuver. It’s not good.
“We’re right where we need to be. Maybe we’ll run right here tomorrow, too.”
Red Bull teammate Isak Hadjar was also unable to challenge the leading teams, with the Frenchman set to start from 10th on the grid.
He said, “Honestly, there are no regrets. I did everything I could, put in a good lap, but I’m not very happy with the balance and I was a little slow compared to the cars around me.”
“This is not where we want to be as a team but we will just fight and understand.
“A lot of work has been done to change things compared to yesterday. We are so far from the leadership that we are trying things and it’s still not really working but at least we try and understand.”
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