Verstappen aims to 'survive' Sprint before making changes in Qatar

For the first time since the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, Verstappen has been outqualified by his teammate in today's Sprint Qualifying session.

The Dutchman went wide in Turn 4 on his first lap, and eventually finished sixth in SQ3 at the Losail International Circuit.

Talking to F1 TV after the session, the defending world champion explained the issues he had with the RB21 today: "Not good from the first lap. Just really bad bouncing and very aggressive understeer that would shift into oversteer at high-speed.

When asked about the changes from on the only free practice session to Sprint Qualifying, Verstappen added: "We changed a few things but it wasn't working well, so it's something we need to understand."

Tomorrow, a maximum of eight points will be up for grabs. Verstappen's rivals in the championship, Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, will start from P1 and P3 respectively in Qatar.

Looking ahead, the Red Bull driver commented: "With this balance, it will not be a lot of fun. It will be more about trying to survive I guess and make some changes going into qualifying."

Recap Sprint Qualifying with GPblog's report here, and find the full results here!

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