Max Verstappen furious after 'disaster' sprint qualifying and practice session

[p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/verstappen-max/UV3mgeXB/"]Verstappen[/a]'s Red Bull was almost two seconds behind championship leader [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/russell-george/xxF56RaN/"]George Russell[/a]'s Mercedes as he finished in eighth place in both sessions in Shanghai.[/p][p]The Red Bulls struggled for pace again on the second race weekend of the season, with their new in-house power units having replaced Honda as engine supplier.[/p][p]They are also clearly far from getting to grips with the sweeping new aerodynamic and chassis regulations as Formula 1 enters an era of a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power.[/p][p][b]"The whole day has been a disaster pace-wise: no grip - I honestly think that is the biggest problem - no grip, no balance,"[/b] said an angry four-time world champion Verstappen, whose best lap was a colossal 1.734 seconds adrift of Russell.[/p][p][b]"(We are) just losing massive amounts of time in the corners and then of course because of that you start to trigger other little problems.[/b][/p][p]"But the biggest problem for us is that the cornering is completely out."[/p][embed guid="9bc85e6c-6363-4e3c-9f9f-ada478f3c7e0" url="https://x.com/redbullracing/status/2032370143313973293?s=20" social-type="twitter" /][p]His teammate [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hadjar-isack/8SAk38Ui/"]Isack Hadjar[/a] fared even worse. He was 10th, barely scraping into the top-10 shootout in sprint qualifying.[/p][p]It prompted Red Bull team principal Laurent Mekies to apologise to Verstappen.[/p][p]"Sorry, Max," said Mekies over team radio at the end of the session.[/p][p][b]"Tough one, a lot to learn. The weekend is still long, we need to learn from (it). Let's try again."[/b][/p][p]Verstappen, who fought back from a qualifying crash in the opening race in Australia last weekend to finish sixth from 20th on the grid, was at a loss as to the way forward.[/p][p]"I don't know at the moment what we can do. We'll see," said the Dutchman.[/p]