The 2024 F1 season is nearing its end, and the 21st race kicks off this weekend in Brazil. With three teams fighting for the title, the competition is intense. However, Max Verstappen and Red Bull despite being the dominant force, has faced unexpected struggles.
Their recent setbacks in Mexico saw both Verstappen and Sergio Perez struggling with a lack of pace. These issues have persisted into Brazil’s sprint qualifying, and Verstappen asserts that he had already seen it coming.
Max Verstappen‘s performance in the recent sprint qualifying at the Brazilian GP was mixed. While he managed to secure fourth place, he admitted that his Red Bull felt “off” throughout the session.
The Interlagos track has long straights and power-sensitive sections where the RB20’s powerful engine can provide a significant advantage.
However, the newly resurfaced track, which became bumpier, seemed to hinder his car’s performance, causing it to jump around and lose valuable lap time.
As soon as we went into qualifying, we knew we were off. The resurfacing actually made it worse to drive. It’s extremely bumpy everywhere, that’s not good for our car. The car is jumping around a lot, and we lost quite a bit of lap time.
Max Verstappen told SkySportsF1
Since their car was already quite bad during the qualifying lap, Max Verstappen doesn’t expect him to perform well in the race either. He’s unsure about how things will go in the sprint race, given his strong record last year.
In 2023, everything went his way as he secured pole, won the sprint, and clinched victory. This year, his goal remains the same, despite the RB20’s struggles and fierce competition from Lando Norris.
However, McLaren’s impressive pace, with Oscar Piastri taking pole, is a serious threat to the Dutchman apart from Norris.
When you’re already quite a bit awful for one lap, I don’t think we are particularly strong in the race, so we’ll have to see how that goes tomorrow with the sprint.
Max Verstappen stated
Max Verstappen received a five-place grid penalty for the Sao Paulo race due to Red Bull’s engine change. Their lack of pace in Mexico hurt them, with him finishing sixth, 59 seconds behind race winner Carlos Sainz.
The Dutchman emphasized that he’ll need to push hard on track with the penalty to catch the faster cars ahead. The new engine is expected to give the RB20 more horsepower, potentially improving lap times. This marks his sixth power unit change of the season, which exceeds the allowed limit.
There maybe some weather that can come, but maybe not for the sprint. For the engine penalty, a bit more to work.
Max Verstappen said
Verstappen, despite their struggles from the sprint qualifying, is looking forward and is optimistic for the sprint race.
Presently, the gap between him and Lando Norris is 47 points and in the last four races his aim will be tough to maintain it in hope of winning his fourth title. The two back-to-back duel between them has tensed the competition and fans are hoping for some more action at the Interlagos this Sunday.
