Max Verstappen details Red Bull horror show: 'Every lap is survival'

Max Verstappen has stated that every lap behind the wheel of his Red Bull car is “survival” after enduring a difficult day in Shanghai.

The four-time champion could climb no higher than eighth place during qualifying for the Chinese Grand Prix, ending the session one-second down on pole-sitter Kimi Antonelli.

His disappointing run came just hours after a challenging sprint race saw him drop to the back of the grid after a poor start.

Although he was able to recover to ninth, Verstappen battled car handling issues throughout and was even seen running off the track while squabbling with his team-mate Isack Hadjar during the shorter race.

Verstappen revealed that after parc fermé conditions were lifted, Red Bull carried out extensive changes to the car in an attempt to boost its handling.

Unfortunately for Verstappen, the efforts failed to fix the limitations he was suffering from.

“We changed a lot on the car, it makes zero difference,” Verstappen told media including RacingNews365.

“The whole weekend, we've been off. The car is completely undrivable. 

“I can't even put a bit of a reference in, every lap is like survival. I can't push at all because the car doesn't let me. 

“I don't really feel in control of the car, it's just really not how it should be.

“From lap one of this new regulation, I've not enjoyed this car.”

When asked where the main limitation was coming from, Verstappen stated he was suffering from both “oversteer and understeer”.

As he looks to make gains up the order on Sunday, Verstappen conceded he is not expecting to have an enjoyable race.

“I hope that maybe at other tracks, we can be a little bit closer, but we would still always be the P4 team, if we don't change anything on the car,” he said.

“Where I'm at, it's not going to be a fun race.”