Max Verstappen admitted ‘we’re not fast enough’ after qualifying fourth for the Chinese Grand Prix. This will come as welcome news for Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton, who are starting either side of the four-time world champion. The Dutchman produced a handful of excellent laps throughout the three qualifying sessions but didn’t have the pace to threaten the two McLaren drivers.
Ultimately, it was Oscar Piastri who stormed to pole with George Russell and Norris both ahead of Verstappen, who finished fourth. This result, combined with a challenging sprint race earlier in the day, left Verstappen feeling downbeat after the qualifying session at the Shanghai International Circuit.
Asked by Sky Sports F1 how he can win on Sunday, Verstappen replied sarcastically: “If they all retire in front of me! We’re not fast enough. The lap was alright, but it was very difficult to get a consistent balance out of it every lap, every corner, basically. It was tough. But we are working on it and trying to do better.
“I feel comfortable, confident, but sometimes my input is not what I’m getting back from the car, and that makes it quite difficult to nail every corner. Then, in the race, when it’s not doing that, you’re degrading your tyres harder than cars around you, and that’s not ideal.
“I probably feel the best shape again driving-wise compared to even the years before. I feel I go into qualifyings, I’m nailing the laps and doing a good job. [In] the races so far we have executed everything we can. But when the race pace is lacking there’s not much you can do.”
If Verstappen was frustrated after qualifying, his team-mate was despairing. Liam Lawson followed up an SQ1 elimination in sprint qualifying on Friday by finishing last of all 20 cars in Q1 on Saturday, setting up a back-row start in Shanghai.
The New Zealander is now in crisis mode after a pointless start to the season in Melbourne. “Yeah, it’s just really tough, honestly,” he sighed after qualifying. “The window is really small. I mean, that’s known, but honestly, that is not an excuse. I’ve got to get a handle on it.
“It was a messy session and had we had not dealt with traffic and stuff like that it might have been okay, but to be honest, it is still not good enough. To be having those issues and that is the reason that we get knocked out… we should be fast enough on our first lap. It shouldn’t be an issue so I just need to get on top of it.”
