Kimi Antonelli and George Russell secured a 1-2 win for Mercedes at Suzuka, but Max Verstappen’s Red Bull struggles continued.
Published March 28, 2026
A dejected four-time world champion has labeled his Red Bull car “undrivable” after the Frenchman finished 11th in qualifying for Sunday’s Japanese Grand Prix.
The Dutchman, who has won at Suzuka for the past four years, had yet another qualifying nightmare that resulted in him being eliminated in Q2, making his early season difficulties even worse.
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He crashed in Q3 at the season-opening race in Australia and has always been a vocal critic of the new F1 regulations, which split power and electric power in a 50/50 split.
“The car never turns in the middle of a corner, but at the same time there’s been a lot of oversteer on entry this weekend. It’s really difficult and unpredictable,” Verstappen, who took pole position last year with a track record lap time, told Sky Sports F1.
“I thought I had made some corrections in FP3 (third practice). I mean, the car still had a lot of understeer, but in qualifying it was undriveable again, so we’ll have to look at that.”
Verstappen, who finished sixth in Melbourne and retired from the Chinese Grand Prix two weeks ago, added: “We have a problem that cannot be explained in detail here.
“I think I went back to the point where I couldn’t drive in qualifying.”
Verstappen, 28, was involved in a public scuffle on Thursday when he chased reporters out of a press conference.
Antonelli leads Mercedes 1-2 with Russell at Suzuka
Kimi Antonelli took pole position ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell.
Mercedes have had a good start to the F1 season, having achieved one-two finishes in both Grands Prix so far, and also dominated in dry conditions at Suzuka.
The 19-year-old Italian Antonelli became the youngest pole sitter in F1 history two weeks ago in China, and became his second consecutive pole sitter with a fastest lap of 1 minute 28.778 seconds.
Early championship leader Russell was second, 0.298 seconds behind, with McLaren’s Oscar Piastri third and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc fourth.
“It was a really clean session,” said Antonelli, who won his first Grand Prix of his F1 career in China two weeks ago.
“There’s still more to do with energy on these big trucks. How can we push it further and find solutions that allow us to drive without thinking too much?” he said.
“But overall I think it was a lot of fun.”
Russell was fastest in Friday’s first practice, but has trailed his younger teammate in every session since then.
The British driver said he was struggling with his car for most of qualifying and admitted it was “not ideal” heading into Sunday’s race.
“I felt very comfortable with the car all weekend, but something just didn’t go right in qualifying,” he said.
“Let’s take a look tonight. Maybe we’ll get some answers. Maybe we can adjust our driving style to compensate.”
