Red Bull’s F1 car issues are “no easy fix” at Suzuka, Max Verstappen warns

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen says his Red Bull Formula 1 car is “bleeding a lot of lap time” from significant balancing issues in Japanese Grand Prix free practice.

In a Red Bull RB22 that featured upgrades including a reshaped sidepod and a tweaked floor, Verstappen was seventh in Friday morning’s FP1 session, eight tenths adrift of leader George Russell in the Mercedes. Verstappen complained of a lack of rotation then, but as Red Bull made the necessary set-up changes in the afternoon, understeer appeared to turn into oversteer, with the Dutchman especially struggling through Suzuka’s famed Esses.

Verstappen wasn’t the only driver suffering from snaps on a windy afternoon, with Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc also getting out of shape through the first sector, but the Red Bull driver is puzzled by his car’s extreme balance shifts across Friday’s running that he and his team can’t seem to dial out.

“We just struggled a lot more with the balance of the car, grip,” he said as he ended the day down in 10th, 1.3 seconds behind McLaren’s pacesetter Oscar Piastri. “I had two opposites today and the problem is that we never get it together, basically. You go from one extreme to another extreme. And that is just bleeding a lot of lap time.

“Not similar to China, but we’re still off. We’re still not really understanding why we’re that far off in sector one. Basically, medium- to high-speed [corners]. That’s something that we need to work on. I don’t think it’s an easy fix overnight. A few things that are not going right at the moment.”

Team-mate Isack Hadjar finished the day in 15th to cap off a rough start to the weekend for Red Bull, the Frenchman a further three tenths in arrears.

Photos from Japanese GP – Friday

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