Red Bull breaks down reason behind qualifying woes for Verstappen and Hadjar

The French engineer highlighted that the Milton Keynes-based team’s pre-qualifying preparations didn’t unfold as expected at the Shanghai circuit. However, Wache emphasised that the team is now fully focused on learning and improving throughout the rest of the weekend.

“Our set-up for sprint qualifying didn’t play out as we would have wanted it to, so we need to analyse our performance and see how we can improve for the Sprint race and qualifying,” Wache said.

Shifting focus to the positives and the improvements recorded, Wache detailed how the Milton Keynes-based outfit has made progress regarding its energy management and overall chassis performance. The 51-year-old concluded by stressing his expectations that the upcoming sessions will offer the team more learning about the RB22.

During the Chinese Grand Prix Sprint qualifying, Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar could only muster eighth and tenth place respectively, over a second and a half behind pole time 1:31.520, set by Mercedes driver George Russell.

Following the Sprint qualifying in Shanghai, Red Bull Team Principal Laurent Mekies was quick to apologise to Verstappen following his eighth-place finish in qualifying over the team radio.

The French motorsport chief noted that the team will now focus on positives and aim to improve through the remainder of the weekend.

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