Max Verstappen’s Red Bull failed to finish the 2026 F1 Chinese GP after a suspected ERS cooling failure meant he had to retire from the race at the end of lap 46.
But that proved to be the least of Verstappen’s problems, as a sheer lack of pace from his Red Bull car and another start line issue meant he went from eighth down to last for the second successive day.
“Terrible pace, terrible balance” – Verstappen’s blunt assessment of Red Bull’s “very bad” F1 Chinese GP
Verstappen already suffered from a poor F1 Sprint race on Saturday at the Chinese GP, as he had problems with his Red Bull at the start, falling all the way to the back, and didn’t have enough pace or tyres to recover to a points-scoring position, as his Red Bull chewed through the tyres.
Speaking after the main race, he admitted that the lack of pace was “as expected” but lamented yet another issue on the start, which he revealed was the same as in Melbourne, when he also had a poor start:
“It was expected, but again at the start it was a big problem, same as [the Sprint],” he said. “The rest of the race was also the same, can’t push, a lot of graining, terrible pace and terrible balance like [Saturday], so just a very bad weekend for us.”
“I had no battery in Melbourne and here, the two problems are the same. I just have no power. As soon as I release the clutch, the engine is not there.”
Car balance was “bigger” limitation than the power unit
When asked whether he knows why the pace has vanished for Red Bull since Melbourne, the four-time world champion didn’t hold back in saying he was “never” close to Mercedes at any point this year – but admitted China proved to be a “particularly bad” example of that:
“I never saw myself even close to Mercedes [this year],” he said. “But this week, it has been particularly bad.
“For me, it’s not a surprise that we are not close to Mercedes or Ferrari or McLaren.
“But this weekend was particularly bad.I hope we can be, of course, a little bit more competitive.”
He remarked that the biggest limitation for Red Bull at the Chinese GP was the car itself and the lack of balance, and not the all-new F1 power unit from Red Bull and Ford:
“I would say this week the biggest one was actually the car.”
Different strategy “wouldn’t really” have changed his woes
Red Bull put the Dutchman on a bold, if slightly optmistic, strategy for the start of the race, as he started on the soft tyres in the hope to make up some places on the opening laps. As it turned out, not only did he fall back due to his engine issues at the start, the soft tyres started to die pretty early on.
However, Verstappen believes a different strategy wouldn’t have actually changed much of his race up until the late DNF:
“I think it wouldn’t have really mattered what tyre I would have put on,” he said. “The hard tyre is not an option to start on. It’s more like medium or soft.
“I don’t think there was a big difference, because yesterday I had the same [graining] on the medium.”
“This is not racing” – Verstappen’s scathing criticism of F1’s racing product after the Chinese GP
The four-time world champion is no stranger to giving his honest opinion about the 2026 F1 regulations and the style of driving and racing that it creates, as he already called it “Formula E on steroids“ during pre-season testing in Bahrain.
But Verstappen went even further on his criticism of the current style of ‘yo-yo’ racing product in F1 following the Chinese GP.
Whilst some may have felt the race in Shanghai was a bit more natural than the constant changing of positions on the first few laps of the Australian GP, the Dutchman doubled down on his angst, as he called it “terrible” and “like playing Mario Kart”, even saying that people who liked it “don’t know” about actual racing:
“It’s still terrible. If someone likes this then [they] really don’t know what racing is like,” he bemoaned. “It’s not fun at all. It’s like playing Mario Kart. This is not racing.
“Look at the racing. You have a boosting pass, then you run out of battery the next straight. They boost past you again. For me it’s just a joke.”
“Flawed” energy management formula has “nothing to do” with racing
Although all three races held so far this season had some enticing wheel-to-wheel battles for the first few positions, Verstappen believes not even that can save what is a fundamentally “flawed” formula for now:
“It’s just Kimi [Antonelli] or George [Russell]. It’s not really back and forth [for the win]. They’re miles ahead of the field.
“It’s just that Ferrari sometimes has these good starts that they push themselves in front and then it takes a few laps to sort it all out. Like I said, this has nothing to do with racing.
“I would say the same if I would be winning races, because I care about the racing product.It’s not about being upset of where I am, because I’m actually fighting even more now. Of course you get to understand what you have to do and what it is about even more. For me it’s a joke.”
Verstappen says he’s warned F1 about this “since 2023”
The Dutchman believes it’s only natural that the Mercedes and Ferrari drivers are enjoying the new F1, as they’re spearheading the field week in, week out.
But he says “most drivers” don’t enjoy this formula, and reminded that he’s been warning about the issues with this regulation set since 2023, when there were already concerns about super clipping and drivers having to downshift in the middle of straights, like happened in Melbourne last time out:
“I think [FOM] understand where we are coming from as drivers. I speak for most of the drivers – some of course will say it’s great because they’re winning races, which is fair enough.
“When you have an advantage, why would you give that up, right? Because you never know if you’re going to have a good car again.
“But if you just speak to most of the drivers, yeah, it’s not what we like, I don’t think it’s what the real F1 fans like. Maybe some fans like it but they don’t understand racing.
“Hopefully we can get rid of this as soon as possible.
“They should have listened already in 2023, to already see this coming.
“Unfortunately, they didn’t, but maybe it’s a lesson for the future. That this would never happen again, that would be great.”
