After qualifying in fifth place on Friday evening, Max Verstappen stated that Red Bull is “just a bit too slow” around the streets of Las Vegas.
Verstappen and Red Bull have struggled with one-lap performance throughout the weekend, as the Dutchman finished fifth after Q3, nearly half a second behind George Russell’s pole pace.
Verstappen cited Red Bull’s difficulty getting the tyres into the appropriate window, as well as its rear wing specification, as a factor limiting its top-end performance over Las Vegas’ long straights.
“I mean we’re just a bit too slow, we have been struggling to get the tyres to work over a lap, and we are too slow on the straights as well, especially in qualifying,” Verstappen said after qualifying.
Verstappen wound up in fifth place during qualifying as he looks to wrap up his fourth world title this weekend
“You can see our rear wing, it’s trimmed down quite a lot, around the DRS flap, so when we open DRS we don’t get the gains like others do, so that makes it a bit more complicated around here.
“But that’s our own fault, we know that, that’s a compromise we have, but nevertheless I tried to do the best I could.
“It was quite close for P3, little details that could have been a bit better maybe, but overall I’m happy with the laps, was not much more in it.”
Verstappen will share the third row of the grid with his sole remaining opponent for the title, Lando Norris, and the reigning champion will clinch the crown on Saturday night if Norris does not out-score him by three or more points.
Verstappen, who won the inaugural Las Vegas Grand Prix in 2023, is hopeful however that Red Bull’s weaknesses will be less pronounced in race trim.
“I think tomorrow the wing hopefully is a little bit more normal because usually you don’t use the DRS every lap so it’s less of an issue,” Verstappen said.
“It’s a bit of a question mark, how the tyres are going to behave for us, because for me at least, on my side, both of my long runs were not particularly great. I hope tomorrow is going to be a little bit better but we’ll see.”
