Verstappen lacking ‘confidence and commitment’ in Red Bull car

Max Verstappen admitted that he is lacking indispensable “confidence and commitment” in Red Bull’s RB21 after his opening day of running at the Japanese Grand Prix.

The Dutchman was fifth in Friday’s first practice, more than a full second behind McLaren pace setter Lando Norris, and only eighth in the heavily disrupted second session, conceding a similar gap to front-runner Oscar Piastri.

Suzuka demands precision and bravery, with iconic sections like the Esses, Spoon Curve, and 130R requiring drivers to fully trust their car’s capabilities.

Verstappen’s admission that he lacks full confidence suggests the car’s current setup isn’t inspiring the commitment he needs to push to the limit, a significant confession coming from a driver known for his aggressive and assured driving style.

Chaotic FP2 Adds to the Challenge

However, the external factors that impacted FP2 did little to help the Red Bull driver’s cause and quest for reassurance.

“Of course, it was quite chaotic out there for everyone with the red flags so, like everyone else, we couldn’t complete what we wanted to do,” Verstappen explained.

“This meant that today has been quite difficult for us as we were trying different things in the car and a lot of things weren’t clicking as much as we would have liked.

“It is quite difficult to put the lap down: you need quite a lot of confidence and commitment around here and, at the moment, I feel like I still have a bit of work to do.”

Tyre Management Limits Late Session Insights

Verstappen also noted that he couldn’t fully attack his laps because of the need to preserve his soft tyres, and the limited three-lap stint at the end of the session didn’t provide a clear picture of the car’s pace or potential.

This could indicate that Red Bull is still searching for the optimal setup to balance outright speed with tyre longevity – a key factor for both qualifying and the race.

“I was on the soft tyre, which requires a lot of management, and you can’t really push it so I only got about three laps at the end which wasn’t a great read,” he said.

“Tomorrow in FP3 we can hopefully have a bit of a longer run but overall it hasn’t been an easy day."

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