Max Verstappen Calls His Red Bull “Undriveable” and Red Bull Have No Answer

The Chinese Grand Prix weekend is turning into an extended exercise in damage limitation for Red Bull.



Max Verstappen qualified eighth for Saturday’s sprint, over a second behind pole-sitter George Russell, and finished ninth in the race itself — one position outside the points.



The sprint result followed a dismal Australian Grand Prix in Melbourne where Red Bull also struggled massively with balance and power delivery.



Verstappen’s language about his car has become progressively more alarming with each session. “This is undriveable. We have never had anything this bad,” he said over the radio during sprint qualifying.



After the session, he was asked whether the problems were worse than expected. “Yes, a little bit more than expected,” he confirmed.



The team attempted to overhaul the car’s setup between the sprint and Sunday’s qualifying session. It made no difference. “We turned it upside down and it was exactly the same,” Verstappen said.



“There’s no balance. I cannot lean on the car. Every lap is a fight. It’s just very difficult,” he continued. “Every time I did another lap on a tyre set, it felt awful.”



His language connects the problems not to a temporary setup issue but to the fundamental architecture of the new 2026 regulations. “From lap one of this new regulation, I have not enjoyed this car,” he said.



Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies acknowledged limited progress between sessions. The team’s working hypothesis remains that the issues are partly temperature-related, but a definitive diagnosis has not been reached.



Ralf Schumacher offered a blunt verdict from outside the paddock. “Red Bull is paying the price for staff exits,” he said, referencing the high-profile departures from the Milton Keynes factory in 2024 and 2025.



The championship arithmetic is already stark. Russell leads with 33 points. Verstappen has eight. The reigning world champion is being lapped in the standings.



Off the line in the sprint, Verstappen suffered another bad start and dropped from eighth to well outside the top ten before fighting back to ninth by the end.



“Starting with 0% battery is not a lot of fun and quite dangerous,” he said of the wider start problem affecting multiple teams. “So we’re in discussions with the FIA to see what can be done.”



The contrast with Verstappen’s four consecutive dominant championship campaigns is stark. In 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, the question was how many races Red Bull would win. In 2026, the question is whether they can score points.
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