Red Bull make striking Max Verstappen admission after latest setback

Paul Monaghan has conceded that Red Bull is falling short of the standards the team and Max Verstappen set.

The Milton Keynes-based squad had another underwhelming day to start the Japanese Grand Prix, which the team's chief engineer described as "challenging" following FP2.

Verstappen was seventh and P10 across the two free practice sessions, respectively, whilst Isack Hadjar could only wrangle his RB22 to P13 and P15 at Suzuka.

When it was put to Monaghan that the Dutchman had said it was "a bit tricky here and there", he light-heartedly gave the same response when asked for his own assessment.

"You just have to look at our relative position," he added. "It's not the standards we set ourselves, or those that Max sets us."

Elaborating on the difficult situation, with the Red Bull car proving hard to tame, he shared that the six-time constructors' champions had pinpointed some of the problems.

"So, I think we've identified a few things that are wrong," the Briton said. "Now it's a case of, can we confirm it, can we understand it well enough that we can influence it, affect it, cure it, whatever for tomorrow — and let's see how tomorrow goes. But yeah, today was — I'll describe it as challenging."

Red Bull has developed a sizeable upgrade package to the RB22 this weekend, with a revised sidepod inlet, engine cover and floor being used.

"Geometrically, it's quite a big change," Monaghan explained. "So thank you to everybody in Milton Keynes for getting it here, because that was a mighty effort.

"Our grasping of all of today's fun is that's behaving, but there are some other aspects of the car that are currently not very happy, and those are the ones we've got to try and correct for tomorrow, so we will."

Providing further detail on where the car was struggling around the flowing Japanese circuit, the 58-year-old singled out the sweeping first sector, sharing that improving the balance through corners would be the primary aim for the team ahead of FP3.