Red Bull driver Max Verstappen reacts frustratedly to his team’s ongoing difficulties Chinese Grand Prix 2026 in Shanghai. After a botched start and P9 in the sprint, Verstappen said Red Bull had “more problems than expected”.

Verstappen struggles on the Sky microphone after a very weak performance

“Everything that could have gone wrong has gone wrong. To be honest, I’m a little at a loss for words at the moment,” explained Verstappen when asked by Sky.

“The start is of course a problem that we have to solve. But after that the balance was completely messed up. We probably had the highest tire wear in the entire field and it was practically impossible to control.”

“There were also a few other things on the car that weren’t particularly well prepared. We just have to get our processes back under control.”

Ralf Schumacher understands Max Verstappen

Former Formula 1 driver Ralf Schumacher understands Verstappen’s comments. Schumacher said on Sky: “They promised a lot (from 2026) and at the moment nothing is working out. The car was far, far off the pace all weekend. So I would say the tree is burning a bit.”

Red Bull had already suffered a setback in sprint qualifying: Verstappen was eighth, 1.7 seconds behind leader George Russell in the Mercedes. In the sprint, both Verstappen and Isack Hadjar missed the points – Hadjar mainly due to an early collision with Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

“The team has to stick together now,” said Schumacher. “The faces show everything. As I said on Friday: This is simply the result of the fact that a lot has changed at Red Bull and that a lot of good people have left. Now you have to do some rebuilding work.”

Jacques Villeneuve also believes: Red Bull is bleeding dry

Jacques Villeneuve, the 1997 Formula 1 world champion, sees it the same way. He said on Sky: “Red Bull has lost three of its most important people with Adrian Newey, Christian Horner and Helmut Marko. They were the pillars of the team. Maybe we are now slowly paying the price for it.”

This is also why it will be “very difficult to take a big step forward,” Villeneuve explained. Because at the moment “everything is completely messed up” at Red Bull and Verstappen seems irritated. “He doesn’t get any feedback. He doesn’t know what’s going on. All he knows is that the car is undrivable,” said Villeneuve.

“Max doesn’t know what to do with it and he’s frustrated. That’s why he’s not in the right mental state at the moment.”