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Max Verstappen Struggles with Two Key Red Bull Issues After Painful Qualifying
Highlights
- Max Verstappen qualified seventh, two places behind teammate Hadjar.
- Verstappen cited car balance and power deficit as main issues.
- Power drop affected long straights, forcing higher battery use.
- Verstappen finished sixth in sprint race, struggled at high speeds.
- No official plans yet to change car or start from pits.
- Red Bull faces pressure to fix performance before British Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen qualifies only seventh at Silverstone, two places behind teammate Isack Hadjar, after reporting RB22 balance problems and a puzzling power shortfall throughout qualifying.
The deficit appears from his first push lap, costing time on the long straights and forcing heavy energy deployment. He trails Hadjar by 0.15s, compounding a weekend already compromised by set-up instability.
Those traits echo sprint qualifying, then persist into the main session despite changes on Verstappen’s side of the garage. The car’s balance window narrows, and confidence at high speed never properly returns.
He finishes sixth in the sprint, yet remains vulnerable on the straights and in slower corners. Rivals “destroy” him at high speed, exposing both drag sensitivity and a lack of rear stability.
“We had a power drop from the first lap, which killed us on the straights.”
Red Bull-Ford’s power unit leads the FIA ADUO rankings, but Verstappen says the power isn’t available when required. He even weighs parc fermé work and a pit-lane start, without committing publicly.
The contrast between the two garages is striking, suggesting a set-up path that narrows operating range. Verstappen describes the car as not “going forward” despite iterative changes through qualifying.
Verstappen considers pit-lane changes under parc fermé rules, but Red Bull holds position for now.
With the British Grand Prix looming, Red Bull must stabilise the RB22’s balance and recover top-end performance. That priority matches the team’s broader push outlined around its British GP upgrade approach and execution.
Context matters: an investigation into qualifying is underway to parse conditions, deployment traces, and set-up variances. Parc fermé constraints shape Red Bull’s choices unless a pit-lane reset is triggered.
“The car is simply not going forward,” Verstappen says, after multiple set-up attempts fail to unlock pace.
The weekend also fits a wider pattern Verstappen flagged earlier this month, when he urged Red Bull to address recurring weaknesses. Silverstone’s load profile magnifies those shortcomings.
How Red Bull balances downforce level, drag, and energy deployment will dictate recovery potential. That mirrors the team’s recent Silverstone-specific challenges, and frames Verstappen’s route back into podium contention.
Visual Summary
7
Verstappen
Verstappen
5
Hadjar
Hadjar
+0.15s
POWER LOSS
Verstappen left frustrated by
poor Silverstone qualifying:
Car Balance & Power Loss hold him back
poor Silverstone qualifying:
Car Balance & Power Loss hold him back
Power fell short
“I just don’t have the power when it matters.”
“Balance is off and
the car won’t go forward.”
the car won’t go forward.”
The British GP puts pressure on Red Bull to fix
technical woes before the big fight.
technical woes before the big fight.
Daniel Miller reports on Formula 1 Grand Prix weekends with race-day analysis, team-radio highlights, and point-standings updates. He explains power-unit upgrades, aerodynamic developments, and driver rivalries in straightforward, SEO-friendly language for a global F1 audience.
