Red Bull F1 car 'undriveable': Verstappen declares every lap is survival
Max Verstappen has publicly criticized the current state of his team's Formula 1 machinery following a disappointing eighth-place grid position at the Chinese Grand Prix. The Dutch driver described Friday as "disaster" and stated that driving today feels like mere survival, noting he cannot pilot an impossible car effectively while wheels blocked during qualifying highlighted further struggles for Red Bull Racing in Shanghai this season of F206
Key Points
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1Max Verstappen stated that Red Bull's 2026 Formula 1 car was completely undriveable following a difficult performance at the Shanghai Sprint.
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2Verstappen finished eighth in qualifying and described every lap as being like survival due to severe handling issues with his team-mate Isack Hadjar also struggling for pace.
Developments
Max Verstappen finished eighth on the grid at Shanghai after a difficult weekend where he stated his RB20 was completely impossible to drive due to unpredictable handling. Despite extensive engineering adjustments by Red Bull between sessions, they failed to find any performance gains as drivers could not establish consistent reference points for racing lines and balance control.
Max Verstappen and Red Bull teammate Isack Hadjar started the Chinese Grand Prix from eighth and tenth positions, respectively. Both drivers stated that recent car changes made no difference to their pace compared with previous sessions due to poor balance issues in qualifying for both sprint races and feature race grid placement