Verstappen and Red Bull baffled after qualifying in Brazil

Talking to De Telegraaf, the defending world champion reflected on the issues with the RB21. He said: “We simply don’t know. We changed everything, took off the upgrades from Mexico, but nothing works. We don’t understand it."

When Verstappen was asked whether he could make progress during the race, the reigning world champion once again talked about the car.

He added: “We first need to understand what’s going wrong. We’re all the way at the back with both cars, so we’re definitely doing something wrong.”

The Dutchman finished in fourth place during the Sprint, which meant that his gap to Lando Norris was extended to 39 points.

After a disappointing qualifying session in which Verstappen was knocked out on pure pace in Q1 for the first time in his career, he ruled out achieving a fifth title in a row.

The Red Bull driver explained: “We don’t need to talk about the championship anymore. That’s done. We had to be perfect until the end and today was, of course, far from that.

The Sao Paulo Grand Prix weekend continues later today at 17:00 BST / 18:00 CET. See the provisional starting grid here!

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