Red Bull changes predicted as Max Verstappen F1 title hopes wane

Red Bull have been tipped to make big set-up changes to Max Verstappen’s car after his woes continued in the Qatar Grand Prix sprint race.

Four-time world champion Verstappen made up two places at the start but saw his challenge to McLaren’s Lando Norris fade as he complained that his car was bouncing and jumping.

Verstappen, who reported similar issues in sprint qualifying, ultimately finished fourth, ahead of Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

The result has seen Verstappen fall 25 points behind Norris and he will be eliminated from the title race if he is once again outscored by the Briton in Sunday's Grand Prix. 

"It's been difficult so far,” the Dutchman explained after the sprint race.

"The start was of course good and the first three laps I pushed a bit more compared to the guys ahead to try and have an opportunity knowing that passing was tough.

"But after that you just get into the same trouble and the more the tyres wear the more you feel those kind of issues. That basically also prevented us from following them, I was basically just doing my own race out there.

"We need to work on that. We need to try and get rid of the bouncing, jumping, understeer in general in the long corners, that's still a big problem.”

What can Red Bull do?

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies insisted his side would not “rest” until they get the RB21 into an optimum performance window.

“A bit of damage limitation. It's fair to say we are not yet quite happy with the car, hopefully we have more to come,” Mekies told Sky Sports F1.

"We have to try to see if we can extract a tenth or more out of the car. The top four guys were quite close but on our side, there's something more we can do.

"The optimum performance window is undoubtedly very narrow. That's not a secret.

"We don't rest until we are in that window. That's how we go racing. We don't take second for an answer. We will keep trying.”

Teams can make changes in the gap ahead of grand prix qualifying on Saturday evening, when their cars will be locked into parc ferme conditions.

"The answers will be the numbers somewhere and Max would have had a good idea after Sprint Qualifying yesterday what he would have changed if he had the time again,” Sky Sports F1’s Bernie Collins said.

"They will have worked overnight in Milton Keynes in their simulator just looking at their qualifying pace, and tonight they will look at their race-pace stuff.

"Verstappen will not want to qualify behind both McLarens so I think there is a really good chance that he makes some big changes in that car going into qualifying.

"Track position is everything, if he starts behind the chance of him closing that position to Lando isn't there. So I think there will be some big changes coming."