Verstappen calls his Red Bull ‘unmanageable’ after more F1 problems at Japan’s GP | Motorsport News

Kimi Antonelli and George Russell claim a Mercedes 1-2 at Suzuka, but Max Verstappen’s Red Bull battle continues.

Another man Max Verstappen branded his Red Bull car “undriveable” after the four-time world champion qualified a paltry 11th for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.

The Dutchman, who has won at Suzuka for the past four years, crashed out in Q2 in another qualifying nightmare to cap a difficult start to the season.

He crashed out in the third quarter of the season opener in Australia and has consistently reacted against new Formula One regulations that see a 50-50 split between conventional and electric power.

“The car never spins in the middle of the corner, but at the same time this weekend it just oversteers a lot at the entrance. It’s really difficult, unpredictable,” Verstappen, who took pole last year with a track record lap time, told Sky Sports F1.

“We thought we fixed it a bit in FP3 (third practice), I mean there was still a lot of understeer in the car, but now in qualifying for me it was unmanageable again, so that’s something we have to look at.”

Verstappen, who finished sixth in Melbourne and retired from the Chinese Grand Prix two weeks ago, added: “We have problems which I cannot explain in detail here.

“I think in qualifying it just came back to a point where it became unrideable.”

Verstappen (28) was involved in a public confrontation on Thursday when he removed a reporter from his news conference.

Antonelli leads Mercedes 1-2 with Russell at Suzuka

Kimi Antonelli took pole for the race ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell.

Mercedes have taken one-two finishes at both Grands Prix so far in a flying start to the Formula One season and they were once again dominant in dry conditions at Suzuka.

The 19-year-old Italian Antonelli became the youngest pole sitter in F1 history two weeks ago in China and he made it two in a row with a fastest lap of 1 min. 28.778 sec.

Early championship leader Russell was second, 0.298 sec. behind, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri third and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fourth.

Antonelli, who won the first Grand Prix of his F1 career in China two weeks ago, said it was “a very clean session.”

“There is still work to be done in these big tracks with the energy, how to find a solution that allows us to push and drive even more without thinking too much,” he said.

“But overall I thought it was good fun.”

Russell was fastest in Friday’s first practice, but since then he has trailed his younger teammate in every session.

The British driver said he struggled with his car for most of qualifying and admitted it was “not ideal” going into Sunday’s race.

“I was very comfortable with the car all weekend, it’s just in qualifying something didn’t feel quite right,” he said.

“Let’s see tonight, maybe we’ll get some answers, maybe I can adjust my driving style to compensate.”