Verstappen delivers damning Red Bull 'too slow' verdict

Max Verstappen cut a downbeat figure after difficult first and second practice sessions for the Dutch Grand Prix.

The Red Bull driver was second-quickest in the weekend-opening hour, but severe weather prevented extensive and representative running, preventing teams from getting a good understanding of car performance.

After the wet-to-dry FP1, the final session of the day offered a much better opportunity to establish a pecking order at Zandvoort, but the Dutchman found himself off the pace of the Mercedes and McLaren drivers.

Only managing to set the fifth-best lap time, the 26-year-old and his team has work to do if he is to continue his unblemished record at his home grand prix.

"FP1, didn't really get a lot of running in," the three-time world champion mused when reviewing first day of track running after the summer break.

"But, I guess in FP2, you could see a little bit more where you are and yeah - bit too slow on the short run, bit too slow on the long run, so a bit of work to do.

"At the moment, no clear answer of how to improve that specifically, but we'll look into things. Bit too slow, simple as that."

Red Bull has struggled on Fridays on numerous occasions this season, but was often able to recover due to its performance advantage over the trailing pack.

With that delta now all but eradicated, Verstappen faces a much more significant task if he is to win his fourth Dutch Grand Prix in a row.

He is currently in the midst of his longest winless streak since 2020 and has not won for four rounds - since clinching victory at the Spanish Grand Prix in June.

With Mercedes and McLaren proving difficult to beat in the rounds heading towards the summer shutdown, Verstappen is not surprised by his and Red Bull's lack of pace at Zandvoort.

"Yeah, it's where we have been the last few races, so it's not really a surprise," the 61-time grand prix winner said.

"We'll try to just find a little bit more performance for Sunday."