Max Verstappen comes to a clear conclusion after his early elimination in Q2 in qualifying for the Japanese GP: “We have problems and they are much bigger than last year.” It bodes ill for Sunday’s race and the coming period.
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“It’s not going well this weekend, but we thought we had solved something after the third free practice,” said Verstappen in conversation with F1TV after the session. “That turns out not to be the case. The car is sliding all over the place and it’s difficult to find the balance.”
Last season, Red Bull Racing also struggled initially, but the team got the issues with the RB21 under control. Can they do the same now with the RB22? Verstappen: “We have much bigger problems than last year. Some parts simply aren’t functioning; they don’t work the way we want them to.”
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At Sky Sports, he added a bit more. “There was a lot of understeer in the car and in qualifying it was uncontrollable for me again. So that’s something we need to look at. I’m also driving with a different aerodynamic package this weekend, but it seems that’s not working. So that’s not good either.”
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