Verstappen: “We were terribly slow on the straight” and he vents over the radio: “What a disaster…”

Max, what a flop For the entire duration of qualifying for the British Grand Prix, Max Verstappen seemed to be in real difficulty, so much so that he was permanently behind teammate Isack Hadjar.
And so it was also in Q3, with the Frenchman finishing fifth and Max only seventh – 782 thousandths away from Antonelli’s pole and 147 from Hadjar.
Verstappen had set-up problems and a clear lack of speed on the straights. Verstappen’s words “Throughout the session the set-up wasn’t good and the car was terribly slow on the straight for who knows what reason, even compared to the other cars”, explained Max Verstappen at the end of qualifying.
The Dutchman seemed rather surprised by what happened: “We weren’t able to solve the problem. Then when you’re slow on the straight, you have to hold the accelerator harder and end up using up the battery, entering a negative spiral. The situation then gets worse and worse as you get to the end of the lap: it’s a sort of double whammy, which makes it even more painful.” Dissatisfaction that Max had also clearly expressed on the radio: “What a disaster… incredible”.
In short, Verstappen cannot have high expectations for the race: “First we have to solve the problems, when you lack top speed, this is a serious problem. We have to understand well in view of tomorrow.”

Automobile Magazine – Formula1 English, News

2026-07-04 17:29:00