Red Bull explain their disastrous qualifying performance in Suzuka

Red Bull endured another difficult Saturday at Suzuka, with the team unable to resolve the driveability issues that had plagued Max Verstappen throughout practice.

The Dutchman had complained about the car’s behaviour in FP3—particularly the gear shifts—and those problems persisted into qualifying, ultimately contributing to a shock Q2 elimination. While Verstappen struggled, rookie Isack Hadjar delivered a composed performance to reach Q3, ensuring at least one Red Bull started inside the top ten, though he was beaten by an Alpine in the final shootout.

Verstappen was candid about the scale of the team’s difficulties. “We have had quite a few issues the whole weekend, so we need to understand why qualifying felt quite bad to drive,” he said after finishing only 11th.

“We were having difficulty with sliding and when we turn the car mid-corner experienced quite a lot of understeer in particular. So, there are quite a few things we need to look at ahead of tomorrow.”

Although FP3 had shown slight improvement, the problems returned when it mattered most. “FP3 was a little bit better, but we struggled again in qualifying. Sometimes it is a little more predictable and sometimes not and that makes it quite tricky to understand. It's something that we need to evaluate in the debrief. Let’s see how tomorrow goes. There is a lot to analyse overnight, but let’s see what we can do.”

Hadjar, meanwhile, continued to impress in his early outings for the team. Despite Red Bull’s lack of pace, he managed to extract enough performance to reach Q3 and secure eighth on the grid.

“We knew that getting into Q3 was going to be difficult given the pace we've shown all weekend, so P8 was towards the ceiling of what I could've done today,” he explained.

The team made changes ahead of qualifying that improved speed but altered the car’s behaviour. “We made changes going into qualifying that made us faster, but they also made the car feel very different, so that was something that I had to manage and adapt to.

"On my last run I lost the car on what was a good lap, but I don't think it would have taken us much further up the grid."

Looking ahead to the race, Hadjar expects opportunities. “We aren't expecting high tyre degradation tomorrow, so we can have a go at it and with these cars you can overtake, so there could be some good racing. Points is the target, but our end goal is to leave this weekend with a better understanding of how to make the car faster.”

Team principal Laurent Mekies acknowledged the scale of the challenge facing Red Bull, drawing parallels with the issues the team encountered in China.

“We have a lot of work to do and are far away from where we want to be. It has been difficult for both drivers. It has been a battle for them around this track and some of the difficulties that we are facing are not too different to some of the issues that we had in China,” he said.

Mekies also praised the factory’s efforts as the team works to diagnose the underlying causes. “Thank you to everyone back at the factory who is working hard at understanding the root causes of our limitations and working to find the right solutions for it. It might take a bit of time, but the route forward is to take a deep dive, understand what is limiting us and come back stronger.”

For Sunday, Red Bull’s focus is less on results and more on learning. “For tomorrow, the focus for us is to continue to learn. We'll use all the data we can get and come up with more development. We will have some time after this weekend to work on and adjust further development on the car,” Mekies added.