Verstappen unhappy: 'It's just really hard at the moment'

For Max Verstappen, the difficult sprint race in China came as no surprise. The Dutchman knew in advance that it would be an uphill battle to try and hang on to his P2 starting spot, but still tried to have a go at Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton.

''Yes, nothing unexpected. It's obviously not what you want, but it's the reality,'' Verstappen stated to Viaplay after the sprint race. ''The whole race I had to manage a lot. You can see from the lap times how much slower we went at the end.''

Early in the race, Verstappen still did everything he could to pressure Hamilton, getting within the Briton's DRS range, but he never really got close enough to mount an attack on the eventual winner of the sprint, as Hamilton slipped away from his grasp, leaving th Dutchman to fend off the attacks of Oscar Piastri.

''He (Hamilton) was also managing a lot and I had Oscar (Piastri) behind me who was also trying to overtake [me]. It was just very tricky. I could also drive my own pace the whole race, but then you fall back after two-three laps. Of course I'm trying something, but it's just difficult at the moment,'' Verstappen concluded.