Chinese GP: Red Bull apologise to Max Verstappen after 'disaster' in Sprint Qualifying as Lando Norris, Lewis Hamilton eye start 'opportunity'

Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies apologised to Max Verstappen as the Dutch driver labelled their pace as a “disaster” in Sprint Qualifying at the Chinese Grand Prix.

Both Verstappen and his Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar only squeaked into SQ3 on Friday before qualifying eighth and 10th for Saturday’s Sprint at 3am UK time, live on Sky Sports F1.

More worryingly, Verstappen was 1.734s adrift of Sprint pole-sitter George Russell, who led team-mate Kimi Antonelli in a Mercedes one-two, on a track which tests the all-round ability of an F1 car.

“Sorry, Max. Tough one, a lot to learn,” said Mekies to Verstappen on the radio.

“The weekend is still long, we need to learn from [today]. Let’s try again.”

Verstappen later told Sky Sports F1‘s Rachel Brookes: “The whole day has been a disaster pace-wise. No grip. That’s the biggest problem – no grip, no balance.

“Just losing massive amounts of time in the corners. Then because of that you start triggering other little problems but the big problem for us is the cornering is completely out.”

Bernie Collins and Jacques Villeneuve on Verstappen’s Friday

Sky Sports F1’s Bernie Collins

“Max was really unhappy through the whole session – complaining about downshifts which we have heard a lot in the past.

“There seems to be fundamentally a lot more issues with the car. Even on his out lap in SQ3 he said ‘is there anything I can do to improve this’ and he was basically told ‘no’. It doesn’t’ sound like there are any quick fixes.”

Sky Sports F1’s Jacques Villeneuve

“Last year, he knew he had a car where he could maybe bring a battle during the season. Now it looks like the gap is way too big.

“When you’re harvesting energy, you need a car that is very stable. If you get a bit sideways, you get off and on the gas, it’s not good for the energy and maybe that’s what he’s alluding to.”

Hadjar suffered a battery deployment issue on his only SQ3 lap which limited his straight line speed on the long back straight as he qualified in 10th at 2.203s off the pace – a gap he was slightly surprised by.

“I was happy with my lap. It was good but in the end it doesn’t change our weekend. I’m just happy to be not too far from Max,” he said.

“We need a bit more of everything – more grip, a bit more power. We are just very far off Mercedes, a lot more than last weekend.

“I was expecting Ferrari and McLaren to be ahead but not the gap overall to increase.”

Hamilton: Ferrari must push to close Mercedes power gap

Red Bull’s pace on Friday in Shanghai suggests they have dropped off the front pack of Mercedes, Ferrari and McLaren. However, Mercedes have also increased their gap over the rest of the field as Russell was six tenths ahead of third-placed Lando Norris in Sprint Qualifying – the first of the non-Mercedes drivers.

Lewis Hamilton, who won last year’s Chinese GP Sprint, qualified fourth on Friday but 0.641s behind Russell but thinks Ferrari are losing all their time to Mercedes on the straights.

“We have a lot of work to do. We really have to push so hard back in Maranello to improve on power,” he said.

“It was something that I think we were conscious of last year, that we thought that Mercedes started earlier than us or the rest – which they did last time [in 2014] as well. So they gave done a fantastic job and we’ve got to push to be able to close that gap.

“The car feels great and I think we can compete with them through corners, but when you are down on power it’s just the way it is.”

Ferrari ran their innovative upside down rear wing during the only practice session in Shanghai in a bid to aid straight line speed.

But, they removed it ahead of Sprint Qualifying due to concerns the wing would not be fully reliable for the remainder of the weekend.

Hamilton said: “I don’t really know why we went back on it. We rushed it to get it here and it was not supposed to be on the cars until race four or five, or something like that.

“So they did a great job to rush it here and we only had two of them. It was maybe a little bit premature, so we took it off. The car was still great and we’ll work to bring it back when it’s ready.”

Norris sees ‘opportunity’ at start of Sprint

If Hamilton can replicate Charles Leclerc’s incredible launch from fourth in Australia last Sunday, he may find himself in the lead after the first corner in the Sprint.

But, Norris in third also sees an opportunity to jump the two Mercedes on the run down to Turn 1 to gain track position.

“I don’t expect them to get bad starts, to be honest. It’s an opportunity for sure,” he said.

“I think they know what they did wrong last weekend in Melbourne and they’ll probably be fine. But you never know, it’s a good opportunity. The easiest place to overtake is off the line so we’ll see what we can do.”

Sprint pole-sitter Russell believes tyre graining will be an issue but is more optimistic about Mercedes’ starts as they have been working on it in the factory.

“I don’t know what will happen. My practice start this morning was much better – one of my best of the season. We are improving so much in that regard,” he said.

“The full focus since Melbourne has been on how we can improve those starts. Thankfully the two guys around me are two Mercedes engines, so hopefully no fast-starting Ferraris zoom by.”

Sky Sports F1’s Chinese GP schedule

Saturday March 14
2.25am: Chinese GP Sprint build-up*
3am: CHINESE GP SPRINT*
4.30am: Ted’s Sprint Notebook*
5.30am: F1 Academy Race 1*
6.30am: Chinese GP Qualifying build-up*
7am: CHINESE GP QUALIFYING*
9am: Ted’s Qualifying Notebook*

Sunday March 15
2.35am: F1 Academy Race 2*
5.30am: Chinese GP build-up: Grand Prix Sunday*
7am: THE CHINESE GRAND PRIX*
9am: Chinese GP reaction: Chequered Flag*
10am: Ted’s Notebook*

*Also on Sky Sports Main Event

Formula 1 is in Shanghai for the first Sprint weekend of the 2026 season at the Chinese Grand Prix, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime

Showcase