Max Verstappen has admitted Red Bull still lacks grip and balance after managing only sixth place in Formula 1 sprint qualifying at Zandvoort. This comes after he announced his long-term commitment to the team until 2030.
During the first practice session (FP1), Max Verstappen complained of poor gearshift quality, a recurring issue this year, along with low grip and an oversteer balance. He finished an unusually low 11th, 1.376s behind Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli.
However, setup changes ahead of sprint qualifying brought improvement. Verstappen managed to reach the final qualifying segment (SQ3) and secured sixth place, ahead of Lewis Hamilton's Ferrari. "I guess we out-qualified one [frontrunning] car," he told F1 TV. "Just a bit tricky to find the grip, the balance. It was already a step forward from FP1, but of course still lacking a little bit to be further up the road."
Verstappen added that the team needs to understand what can be done with the car's balance for the sprint and the Grand Prix. "We need to find a bit more grip and balance to close the gap to the frontrunners," he said.
With his long-term commitment, Verstappen appears resigned to the situation. He no longer shows the threat of switching teams as in previous seasons, but instead chooses to focus on working with the team. Red Bull has a track record of conjuring greatly improved setups overnight, but this year it hasn't been enough to make the car a genuine race-winning contender.
A comparison with stand-in teammate Liam Lawson highlights how difficult the car is. Lawson, who replaced Sergio Perez, was actually faster in SQ1 with a 1m13.420s, but failed to advance to SQ3 after only managing 1m13.136s in SQ2. Verstappen improved to 1m12.745s in SQ2 and 1m12.094s in SQ3, yet still fell 0.527s behind George Russell's pole time.
Most ominous for Red Bull is the fact that the gap between Russell and Oscar Piastri's McLaren is extremely tight, showing that their car is still far from the front-running pace. Verstappen himself acknowledged that there is a lot of work to do to be able to compete at the front.
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George Russell raih pole Sprint Zandvoort berkat strategi Mercedes. Analisis kualifikasi F1, persaingan ketat dengan Ferrari dan McLaren.
George Russell merebut pole Sprint GP Belanda dengan Mercedes yang mengandalkan kecepatan di lintasan lurus, sementara McLaren dan Ferrari unggul di tikungan cepat dan lambat.
Oscar Piastri menyesal gagal pole sprint GP Belanda, hanya terpaut 0,099 detik dari Russell. Namun, ia melihat progres positif setelah perubahan set-up. Lando Norris juga puas dengan P2.
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