Red Bull’s Max Verstappen retired from the Chinese Grand Prix and failed to score a point in a disastrous weekend for the team.

SHANGHAI: Red Bull’s Max Verstappen bemoaned a “particularly bad” weekend after retiring from the Chinese Grand Prix and failing to score a point in the sprint.

The four-time world champion was called to retire his car on lap 46 due to a cooling issue. He trailed home ninth in Saturday’s sprint, while teammate Isack Hadjar finished 10th.

It was the first time Red Bull had ever failed to score points in a sprint race. “Getting on top of our problems is not easy,” Verstappen said.

The Dutchman highlighted a recurring issue with race starts. “It would help if we would just have a normal start — I’ve been every time dropping to last,” he added.

Verstappen’s retirement was part of an attritional race that exposed complexities under new regulations. Four drivers, including McLaren’s Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri, failed to start.

Three others, including Verstappen, failed to finish. “You can see that all over the grid,” he said. “I mean, some cars are not even starting. So yeah, it’s all very complicated.”

The Red Bulls are struggling for pace, grip, and greater tyre degradation than their rivals. “I know the team are doing everything they can,” Verstappen stated.

“But at the moment we are just not where we want to be. There are more problems than we expected.” Hadjar was the lone Red Bull finisher in eighth place, scoring just three championship points.

Team principal Laurent Mekies called it a “very tough event”. “Being on the back foot at the start of a sprint weekend is the worst possible scenario,” he said.

The Formula One season moves to Suzuka for the Japanese Grand Prix in a fortnight. The subsequent two Middle East races have been cancelled due to war.

This creates a five-week gap before Miami in May. “After Japan, you know, we have a bit of a bigger break now, hopefully there we can make some good steps,” said Verstappen.

 The Sun Malaysia