It’s been a weekend to forget for Max Verstappen and Red Bull as the three-time world champion, who looked unbeatable just a few months ago, suddenly finds himself battling one of the most significant setbacks of his Formula 1 career now.
Verstappen is known for squeezing every ounce of performance out of his car and looked completely at sea around Interlagos, but the RB21 just didn’t want to play nice. By the time qualifying wrapped up, Red Bull had found itself in a situation no one saw coming.
Red Bull’s Big Gamble Goes Wrong in Brazil
Red Bull took a major gamble heading into qualifying at the Brazilian Grand Prix, as after struggling with the RB21’s balance and ride quality during Friday practice and Saturday’s sprint race, the team decided to make sweeping setup changes between sessions, which was a risky move that didn’t pay off.
Instead of feeling better, the car became even harder to handle as Verstappen said its handling was all over the place and that he couldn’t push without losing control. Both Red Bulls were knocked out in Q1, with Verstappen qualifying 16th, and for a driver who’s made a habit of living at the front of the grid, it was a rare sight that left fans stunned.
“It was just bad,” Verstappen said after the qualifying session. “Couldn’t push at all. The car was all over the place. Sliding around a lot. Had to underdrive it a lot, just to not have a moment. That of course doesn’t work for qualifying.”
Red Bull’s senior advisor, Helmut Marko, admitted that things had gone completely wrong, “We now have to see what we are going to do about this situation,” he told ORF. “Whether, for example, we are going to make drastic changes again. That would mean we would have to start from the pit-lane… we have to look at where we took the wrong turn.”
The problem now is that Red Bull’s options aren’t great, and if they decide to make another round of significant changes before Sunday’s race, Verstappen will have to start from the pit lane, and that would make an already tough weekend even more complicated to recover from.
Max Verstappen’s Title Hopes Take a Hit
Verstappen came into Brazil hoping to close the gap to championship leader Lando Norris, but after finishing only fifth in the sprint race and then falling out in Q1, his title hopes took a huge blow.
When asked about the championship afterward, Verstappen didn’t sugarcoat it, “We first have to analyse what is going on. I don’t understand how it can be this bad. There is something more important first to understand at the moment.”
It’s not the kind of comment fans are used to hearing from the usually confident Dutchman, but given how poor the car felt, it was easy to understand his frustration, and these results leave him 40 points behind championship leader Norris with just a few rounds remaining.
Team principal Laurent Mekies admitted the team had taken a risk with the setup in hopes of finding more speed, “It’s fair to say that we took some more risk before qualifying to try to see if we could put the car in a better place and it obviously went the opposite direction. So, that’s where we are now. ”
This was the first time in 19 years that both Red Bulls were knocked out in Q1, a statistic that speaks volumes about how tough this weekend has been for the team and has left Verstappen and Red Bull scratching their heads, trying to understand what went wrong and how to turn things around.
It’s been a rough day for the reigning champion, with the once-dominant team suddenly looking rattled, and for a driver used to winning almost everywhere he goes, this Brazilian weekend has been nothing short of a nightmare.
