Red Bull pinpoint Max Verstappen 'problem' after rare failure

Red Bull adviser Helmut Marko has highlighted the "problem" the RB21 has with the soft tyre at the Qatar Grand Prix, which was worse on Max Verstappen's side of the garage during sprint qualifying. 

The Dutchman could only go sixth-fastest in the grid-setting session for the one-third distance race at the Lusail International Circuit, and will line up alongside Yuki Tsunoda, who was nine-thousandths of a second quicker.

It is the first time Verstappen has been outperformed by his team-mate in any qualifying session since the Japanese driver took over the seat from Liam Lawson two rounds into the current F1 season.

During the sole free practice session in Qatar, the four-time F1 drivers' champion complained of clipping at Turn 6. In qualifying, he was unhappy with the amount of bouncing he was suffering on the red-walled soft compound.

It forced him off, running into the gravel and sustaining damage to the floor of his car and consigning him to the relatively lowly grid slot he secured for the sprint.

Reflecting on the session, Marko underlined the issue facing Red Bull and, in particular, Verstappen, who vented his frustrations over team radio.

"On the medium tyre, we were competitive," the Austrian told media, including RacingNews365. "And similar to FP1 on the hard tyre, we were also competitive. The changes we made obviously didn't cure our problem with the soft tyre.

"They were better on Yuki's car; Yuki gained one tenth in the first corner. The change is mainly: Max wanted more front-end, Yuki more rear-end, and that was a better solution.

"But fortunately, it's only the sprint. And for tomorrow [qualifying], we have to sort out our weakness on the soft tyre."

Marko pointed out the strangest part of the Milton Keynes-based squad's difficulty in Qatar, but was unsure of what was causing the issue.

"We didn't have bouncing in the medium tyre," the 82-year-old added. "The ride height stayed the same for both tyres... We have to find the reason why it happened."

When asked if it was something Verstappen — and to a lesser extent Tsunoda — would have to endure for the rest of the weekend, Marko replied: "No, we hope we can solve it."