Verstappen Struggles in Japan, Red Bull Faces Uphill Battle

0:00On March 27th, Max Verstappen and his Red Bull team hit a rough patch during free practice at the Japanese Grand Prix. The four-time world champion pointed out major balance problems with his car, saying it's costing them a ton of lap time. He finished 7th in the morning session, 8-10s behind Mercedes-Liter George Russell. In the afternoon, set up tweaks meant to fix understeer, swung the car into oversteer instead. Verstappen struggled hard through Suzuki's tight S's section and ended the day 10th overall, 1.3 seconds off McLaren's Oscar-Piastriet. The top? Verstappen sounded frustrated, noting how the car flips between extremes without finding a sweet spot. He mentioned weak grip and medium to high speed corners, especially sector 1, and said it's not like their China issues but still baffling the team. Even Red Bull team made Isaac Hajar had a tough time, landing 15th, 3-10s behind Verstappen. Wendy conditions tripped up others too, like Ferrari's Charles LeClair in the first sector. The squad knows it's no quick fix, so expect late nights tweaking ahead of qualifying.

1:04They'll need to nail it to stay in the fight this weekend. This has been F1 News Today, powered by AI.