Verstappen in difficulty in Shanghai: "We are not where we want to be"

Red Bull has not been looking his best since the start of the season, and Max Verstappen knows. Despite a second place in Melbourne, the Dutchman complained about his car which seemed difficult to drive. In China, his RB21 once again failed to live up to his expectations. The start of the race was laborious. His uneven pace and worrying first stint only allowed him to miss out on the podium, far from his usual standards.

However, Verstappen's fighting spirit and his driving style have not abandoned him. “The start of the race was difficult, but we managed to manage our pace and increase it without destroying my tires, explained the Red Bull driver to Canal + after the race. But the result might have been the same if I had damaged my tires... It was very complicated with the mediums, I couldn't keep up the pace." The reigning World Champion still found a second wind on the hard tires, but too late. "In the second part of the stint, things were better, the car seemed more competitive on the hard sections," he related.

A sawtooth rhythm

Upon arrival, Verstappen's conclusion was clear: the car did not yet offer him the consistency necessary to express his talent. "We are not where we want to be, we know we still have a lot of work to do." lamented Liam Lawson's teammate. The only glimmer of hope: the RB21 has proven that it can be fast... intermittently. "The positive thing is that there is rhythm in the car at certain times, he conceded. We need to understand a little more why we didn't get it at the beginning." It's time to learn from this weekend to bounce back at Suzuka for the Milton Keynes-based team.

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