Max Verstappen sends “trying to survive” warning after Qatar blow

Max Verstappen has warned he will have to “survive” the Qatar sprint race after battling extreme bouncing and unpredictable balance in his Red Bull during sprint qualifying.

Verstappen will start Saturday’s sprint race at the Lusail International Circuit from sixth on the grid, one place behind Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

The Dutchman complained about bouncing throughout qualifying, resulting in a brief off-track excursion at the start of SQ3.

It’s unclear whether the off-track moment caused any damage to Verstappen’s car, but he was out-qualified by Tsunoda for the first time this year.

Reflecting on sprint qualifying, Verstappen said: “Not good. From the first lap, just really bad bouncing and very aggressive understeer that would shift into oversteer at high-speed.

“Just not what you want to go faster. You’re locked in and we tried to, of course, change a few things on the wheel but it never really worked. It made it quite tricky.”

“Clearly it wasn’t working well in qualifying so that’s something we need to understand.”

Verstappen wants changes for qualifying

Verstappen will be forced to drive the sprint with this setup.

However, after the sprint, Red Bull will be allowed to make changes to the car as it will be outside of parc ferme conditions.

This is what they attempted in Brazil, but it backfired, as their setup choice made the car even worse and Verstappen was knocked out in Q1.

Verstappen remains an outsider for the 2025 F1 world championship.

The Dutchman is 24 points behind Lando Norris, who will start the sprint in Qatar from third.

Looking ahead to the sprint, Verstappen added: “With this balance, tomorrow in the sprint at least won’t be a lot of fun.

“It will be more about just trying to survive I guess and make some changes going into qualifying.”

Sky Sports pundit Bernie Collins is adamant that Verstappen will likely go backwards in the sprint if his car remains as difficult to drive.

Speaking after Verstappen’s interview, she said: “Twenty-four points is a reasonable amount to close in two races with the form Lando Norris currently has.

“Max is starting behind and it’s not like he made a mistake and can gain positions in the Sprint.

“If the car is like that, it’s like he is going backwards. There are things he won’t be confident with. He cannot have that car in Qualifying.”