Red Bull Drivers Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar will head into the 2026 F1 Chinese GP Sprint from the fourth and fifth row of the grid after qualifying in P8 and P10, respectively.
After finishing the first and only practice session of the 2026 F1 Chinese GP weekend in P8 and P13, Red Bull was surely hoping to improve on their performance in Sprint Qualifying. However, the Red Bull duo of Verstappen and Hadjar had a difficult session, struggling to reach the top 10.
Finishing the session in a distant eighth place, Verstappen, who struggled with the “disaster” pace of his Red Bull all Friday, lamented a lack of grip and balance in an interview following the F1 Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying. The 4-time Champion also pointed to the corners as a “big problem” in the hunt for lap time.
“No. I mean, the whole day has been a disaster pace-wise. So yeah, no grip.
“Honestly, I think that’s the biggest problem. No grip, no balance. Just losing massive amounts of time in the corners, to be honest.
“And then, of course, because of that, you start triggering other little problems. But the big problem for us is just the cornering is completely out.”
Expectations for Red Bull after 2026 F1 Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying
In past seasons, Red Bull often found some performance between sessions, and while Verstappen and Hadjar will have to head into the Sprint Race on the same setup as in Sprint Qualifying, there might be a chance for Red Bull to find some performance ahead of Qualifying or the Chinese GP, even though the 4-time Champion was not too sure.
“We’ll have a look. I don’t know at the moment what we can do. But, we’ll see.”
Isack Hadjar on his performance in the 2026 F1 Chinese GP Sprint Qualifying
On the other side of the Red Bull garage, Verstappen’s teammate Isack Hadjar was overall “happy” with his performance in Sprint Qualifying. The Red Bull newcomer was particularly pleased with the gap to Verstappen as the two were only separated by a tenth and a half. Despite being pleased with his lap, Hadjar was puzzled by the lap time Red Bull lost in
“I don’t know what happened yet and why we lost half a second, but I was happy with my lap. It was good. In the end, it doesn’t change.
“I don’t think that is going to change our weekend. I’m just happy to be not too far from Max [Verstappen].”
Hadjar was surprised by Red Bull’s gap to competitors
In Qualifying for the Australian GP, Hadjar placed his Red Bull in third place, eight-tenths adrift from pole-sitter George Russell. During the F1 Chinese GP sprint qualifying, the gap between Hadjar and the front-running Mercedes was 1.899 seconds. If Red Bull hopes to improve on their performance, they will have to find “a bit more of everything”, says Hadjar.
“We need a bit more of everything. More grip, a bit more power maybe. Yeah, that’s it.
“We’re just very far from Mercedes, a lot more than we were last weekend.”
Heading into the F1 Chinese GP weekend, Hadjar expected Red Bull to be behind both Ferrari and McLaren, but he did not anticipate the gap to “increase” to almost a second in sprint qualifying.
“No. I was expecting the McLaren and the Ferrari to be ahead, but I didn’t expect the gap overall to increase.”
