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Max Verstappen calls his Red Bull undriveable after qualifying 11th at Suzuka as Kimi Antonelli takes pole and Isack Hadjar beats him in another tough F1 weekend.
Formula One: Max Verstappen at the Japanese Grand Prix (AP)
A despondent Max Verstappen labelled his Red Bull car “undriveable” after the four-time world champion qualified a lowly 11th for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
The Dutchman, who has won at Suzuka for the past four years, dropped out in Q2 in another qualifying nightmare, compounding a difficult start to the season.
Poor Season So Far
He crashed out in Q3 at the season-opener in Australia and has consistently railed against new Formula One regulations that mandate a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power.
“The car never turns mid-corner, but at the same time this weekend it’s just oversteering a lot on entry. It’s really difficult, unpredictable,” Verstappen, who took pole last year with a track-record lap time, told Sky Sports F1.
“We thought we’d fixed it a little bit in FP3 (third practice). I mean, there was still a lot of understeer in the car, but now in qualifying for me it was again undriveable, so that’s something that we need to look at.”
“Yeah but I think we have bigger problems that what we had last year. Some parts of the car at the moment are not working how we want them to work.”
Verstappen, who finished sixth in Melbourne and retired from the Chinese Grand Prix two weeks ago, added: “We have problems that I cannot explain in detail here.
“I think in qualifying it just came back to a point where it became undriveable.”
Press Conference Controversy With Journalist
Max Verstappen28, was also involved in a public confrontation on Thursday, when he ejected a reporter from his news conference.
Verstappen was also beaten by his Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar and ended the session 1.2s adrift of the benchmark time set by Mercedes’ Kimi Antonelli.
This is the first time since 2015 that Verstappen, who has won the last four Japanese Grands Prix, has been knocked out in Q2 at Suzuka by a teammate.
The four-time World Champion has only qualified as high as eighth this season, achieved in China, with his best race result a sixth place in the season opener.
(With inputs from Agencies)
March 28, 2026, 2:21 PM IST
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