Max Verstappen says he is “beyond frustrated” after a surprise elimination in Q2 at the Japanese Grand Prix, qualifying 11th at Suzuka — a circuit where he had taken the last four pole positions.
Verstappen described his car as “undriveable” during qualifying. Team-mate Isack Hadjar progressed to Q3 and claimed eighth, beating Verstappen on pure pace for the first time since September 2024 in Azerbaijan. Hadjar also out-qualified Verstappen at the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, where Verstappen later suffered a crash caused by a car problem.
“I mean, I’m not even frustrated anymore. I’m beyond that,” Verstappen said. “I don’t know what to make of it, to be honest. I don’t get upset about it, I don’t get disappointed or frustrated by it anymore with what’s going on.”
The three-time champion has managed only eight points from the first two rounds and has been visibly struggling in medium- to high-speed corners. Red Bull brought new sidepods, a revised floor and a new engine cover to Suzuka; Verstappen indicated he was running a different aero package this weekend, but it has not improved performance.
“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,” he told Sky Sports F1. “We thought we’d fixed it a little bit in FP3 — there was still a lot of understeer — but in qualifying for me it was again undriveable, so that’s something we need to look at. Also, I’m driving with a different aero package this weekend, but it seems like that’s not working… We have problems that I cannot explain in detail here, that we know are there, sometimes a bit worse than other times, and I think in qualifying it just came back to a point where it became undriveable.”
Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies acknowledged the team faces a difficult period as it works to understand and rectify balance and performance issues. The squad, which has supplied Verstappen with title-contending cars for the last five seasons, has struggled to extract performance from the new package.
“It’s important to first understand what we are trying to address as a limitation, then the development race will start and hopefully we can make up ground,” Mekies said before qualifying. “We are missing overall performances in many different areas. It’s not a surprise, it’s not a position we are happy with. We would prefer to be up there with the guys.”
Mekies added that the team pushed very late last year and are still getting to grips with a very new product. “For sure, not only are we lacking performance right now but also we are unable to extract everything we have,” he said. “Through these difficult moments, you effectively build the foundations of your next steps and everyone at Milton Keynes is pushing very hard.”
Asked about driver morale, Mekies said: “Nobody is happy with where we are. You’re not going to see many happy faces. We are pushing each other — the drivers, the teams, everyone back at Milton Keynes. It’s not a position we are happy to stay on for very long. Equally, we know the development is significant and we have more to extract from the package.”
Sky Sports F1 will cover the Japanese Grand Prix at the Suzuka Circuit live. Sunday schedule includes build-up from 4.30am, the race at 6am and post-race reaction and analysis afterward.