Max Verstappen sends Red Bull clear message in 'miracle' verdict

Max Verstappen has highlighted the considerable amount of work required for Red Bull to fix its "big problems" and turn around the troublesome RB22.

The Dutchman suffered through another painful day in the cockpit of his 2026 F1 car on the opening day of running at the Japanese Grand Prix.

After ending the first practice session at Suzuka in seventh, the four-time F1 drivers' slumped to tenth on the timing board in FP2.

Having started the season fighting McLaren to be the third-best package, Verstappen was eight-and-a-half tenths slower than Lando Norris, who was fourth, in the second hour of running.

Lewis Hamilton, who was the slowest runner from the leading three teams — in sixth — was over five tenths of a second clear of the 28-year-old.

Reflecting on his day, the Red Bull driver said: "Yeah, not very good, to be honest. Just lacking balance, grip — two opposites, from FP1 to FP2 — and both of them, not very good.

"So from our side, a lot of work to be done to also understand why we're having these kinds of big problems at the moment. But yeah, not a good day."

When asked whether drastic changes to his set-up had caused the bipolar nature of his car, Verstappen replied: "Yeah, you just try to correct one thing, and then you get another one. But never finding a good balance, basically."

Whilst Red Bull has become known for its ability to significantly improve a difficult situation between FP2 and FP3, the 71-time grand prix winner is not expecting anything major to change on Saturday — even if there are still things for the team to try.

"Yeah, but at the same time, it's very difficult to solve at the moment, so I don't expect miracles overnight," he explained.

"We just need to understand our issues a bit more, where they are coming from."