Verstappen: Red Bull’s Hadjar Handling Was Wrong.

Max Verstappen has expressed his view that Red Bull’s Dutch Grand Prix contest with a Racing Bulls Formula 1 car “should not be occurring”.

Verstappen and Racing Bulls competitor Isack Hadjar occupied third and fourth positions, respectively, trailing the McLarens for a significant portion of the Zandvoort event; both eventually secured spots on the podium after Lando Norris’s late withdrawal.

“I’m pleased to be on the podium, naturally, but the speed was not ideal,” Verstappen communicated to Dutch F1 channel Viaplay. “I believe my third-place finish was solely due to qualifying, as the necessary speed simply wasn’t present.”

Despite concluding the race on soft compound tyres while the McLarens utilized hard compound tyres, Verstappen’s quickest lap was 0.650s slower than that of race victor Oscar Piastri. “McLaren operates at a superior level,” he lamented. “I don’t even measure up to that.”

Verstappen momentarily overtook Norris for second place at the outset but was subsequently pursued by Hadjar, with the margin between them remaining consistently below three seconds during periods without caution – hence the four-time world champion’s worries regarding his performance deficit.

“Throughout the entire race, we were essentially battling our sister organisation purely based on raw speed,” he emphasised. “That is not how it should be.”

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing, Isack Hadjar, Racing Bulls

Photo by: Mark Thompson – Getty Images

“It simply isn’t satisfactory. However, we are conscious of the issues impacting our vehicle.”

Red Bull has frequently found it challenging to fully exploit the RB21’s capabilities this year as a result of limited setup parameters. At Zandvoort, Verstappen adopted a distinct strategy from his rivals by electing not to utilize the hard compound tyre during the race, citing its ‘remarkably poor feel’ during Friday’s practice runs.

“There was a distinct absence of mechanical grip,” the 27-year-old elaborated. “Yet, everyone else appears capable of driving on that tyre, excluding us. This suggests an underlying issue. Therefore, I employed the soft and medium tyres, as they provide a greater degree of mechanical grip in slower corners, where we encountered considerable difficulties.

“The vehicle lacks sufficient speed. I was also compelled to conserve energy in the high-speed corners. While others navigate Turns 7 and 8 at significantly higher speeds, I lack the necessary grip. This is obviously far from ideal. Naturally, qualifying performance was superior over a single lap, but the vehicle’s race performance has been lacking this season.”

While Verstappen and Red Bull are likely enduring their first season without a title victory since 2020, Racing Bulls has already accumulated 60 points – marking the Faenza-based team’s strongest showing since their notable 2021 campaign.

During that period, Pierre Gasly made an impressive 18 appearances in Q3 and secured 12 top-seven placements, contributing significantly to the team’s 142 points in the standings. However, Red Bull was actively contending for the title at that time, preventing the two teams from competing in the manner observed this year.

This situation is further complicated by Red Bull’s second vehicle encountering considerable difficulty in achieving meaningful results, regardless of the driver. Incumbent Yuki Tsunoda concluded a seven-race stretch without scoring points at Zandvoort, but his lap times were consistently one second slower than Hadjar’s, although traffic congestion played a role for the Japanese driver.

Additional reporting by Ronald Vording