Red Bull's issues at Interlagos unravelled since FP1. Despite trying teammate Yuki Tsunoda's setup, Verstappen was unable to prevent his early Q1 demise, which he argues writes him off as a title contender.

Speaking after the qualifying session Verstappen said: "We need to understand what our problems are, first of all. I mean, it's just not being good. It seems like we don't really understand why it's going that way."

When asked what was the reason behind the lack of competitiveness, he added: "Just no grip," before stating the team still had work to do.

He added: "I changed a few things in the car and it didn't work. That's something that we need to figure out. 

The changes, Verstappen thinks have been inconsequential. He continued: "Something is clearly just not working for us even. With the changes of the setup normally you would feel some kind of reaction. But it doesn't so yeah, something is just really off I don't know.

"I mean, there's so many things that we need to get right, I guess. So we'll look overnight again, I guess, to try something or understand something," he concluded hinting that both he and Red Bull refuse to throw in the towl despite the adverse circumstances.

The Dutchman currently sits 39 points behind championship leader Lando Norris and 30 points behind runner up Oscar Piastri.

Want to stay up-to-date with what happens in the F1 paddock? Then GPblog's F1 Paddock Update video is the perfect way to do it. Subscribe to GPblog's YouTube channel and turn on notifications to never miss the latest episodes.