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Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen confirms Red Bull to make changes after Sprint frustration

Max Verstappen feels changes to his car are needed to fight Mercedes in São Paulo.

Verstappen sprint Brazil
Article
To news overview © Red Bull Content Pool

Max Verstappen has confirmed that Red Bull will make changes to his RB21, following a frustrating São Paulo Grand Prix Sprint. 

Starting from sixth, Verstappen quickly overtook Fernando Alonso for fifth but failed to keep up with the top four. 

However, the four-time world champion soon moved into fourth due to Oscar Piastri crashing on the seventh lap, as did Franco Colapinto and Nico Hulkenberg. 

The three-car crash triggered a red flag, which offered Verstappen an opportunity to vent over the radio to race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. 

At the sprint restart, Verstappen struggled to generate heat into his tyres, putting him under immense pressure from Alonso. 

Once his tyres got up to temperature, the 28-year-old managed to build a gap but was unable to challenge for the podium places. 

With car changes allowed to be made before qualifying, Verstappen has confirmed Red Bull will make changes to his RB21, with it currently not being able to compete with McLaren or Mercedes.

"We will make some changes," confirmed Verstappen to Sky F1. "Hopefully that will bring [the car] into a better window, and hopefully that will allow us to also then push a little bit better on the tyres.

"Then we'll see what happens, because like this, to be honest [I'm in] no man's land, because I can't really stay with the guys ahead. 

"Yeah, I want to [stay with them]. But on the other end, if we find a bit more [performance], then maybe I can fight with Mercedes."

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