Red Bull Racing Formula One driver Max Verstappen has called out the lack of pace on his RB21 F1 car after dropping from second to third in the Chinese GP sprint race. The four-time world champion started the race from P2 but a loss of pace and traction led him to lose his spot to McLaren‘s Oscar Piastri.
Seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton secured his first victory with Ferrari in the 19-lap sprint after he broke the lap record at the Shanghai International circuit on Friday, securing pole position. He crossed the finish line with a lead of around seven seconds.
Verstappen tried hard to defend his position, but with all teams struggling for grip in the front tires, Piastri ultimately surpassed him on the long straight, suggesting that the tires were in a slightly better shape on his car than on the Red Bull. Speaking to the media after securing third, Verstappen said:
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“I tried to give it a go because I had Oscar behind me pushing, so was staying in DRS. Unfortunately, the last eight laps we didn’t have the pace of the others so I was trying to survive out there.
“I definitely take P3. It was tough to manage the tires, but it’s OK, we will try to do better.”
He added:
“In general, we just lack a bit of pace so you have to push harder and that hurts your tyres.”
Verstappen revealed after the sprint qualifying on Friday that he was happy to qualify second, considering the lack of pace on his car. Newsweek Sports reported:
“I do think that in the first practice, we were quite a bit off. So I’m very happy to be on the front row.
“The lap was very good. It’s always very tough when you go from a medium to a soft to nail the lap with no references.
“When you look at it, it was 0.018s off pole. I don’t think we should have even been on the front row anyway, so I’m very happy to be second.
“Nothing dramatic [changed on the car] because I don’t think the balance is massively off. It’s just too slow, I would say.
“But this is, this is good for us. It’s a little motivational boost. We keep nailing the laps, we keep trying to maximise everything that we got.
“You need to do that as well when you’re maybe struggling a little bit more for pace.”
Hamilton’s victory in the sprint, followed by Piastri’s P2 finish suggests Ferrari and McLaren are the favorites for the main race. However, Verstappen still can’t be ruled out as a potential winner until all cars have crossed the finish line.