Verstappen: It just wasn't really working for me in the wet

SQ3 was the kind of session, triple Formula 1 World Champion, Verstappen revels in as his wide grin testified as he departed the pits in the mighty Red Bull RB20 as if knowing pole position was in the bag, by how much was probably in his mind as he set out.

But he simply struggled for traction and reported as much after the thrilling Sprint Race Qualy session in Shanghai on Friday: "It was incredibly slippery. I just struggled a lot to get the temperature in the tyres so that's why it was very difficult to keep the car on track.

"It never really switched on for me, it was like driving on ice. That's why it's also quite deserved, it just wasn't really working for me in the wet. Even though in the dry I think we look quite good, so I'm of course quite happy with that," declared Verstappen.

However, could it be that the glorious Adrian Newey & Co. penned Red Bull RB20 is a tad suspect when grip is required, as shown in Melbourne and again today in the wet?

In the end, Verstappen was 'only' good for P4, two seconds adrift of Lando Norris' stonking P1 grabbing lap in the McLaren. But the Dutch ace found four-tenths of a second more than RBR teammate Sergio Perez. The Mexican veteran will line-up P6 on the grid for Saturday's Sprint Race, directly behind the sister #1 car.

From P4 on the grid, starting directly behind his nemesis Lewis Hamilton will be interesting... Verstappen said of his chances in the Sprint: "It's not ideal to start on the inside here, there's a lot lower grip left to right with this painted stuff on the tarmac, so we have to try and have the best start possible.

"Then I think it's going to be quite a long stint on one set of tyres in the Sprint, but that makes it quite interesting I think," predicted the 2024 F1 World Championship leader.

In the sister RBR #11, Perez reported: “Things were looking great initially, then with the traffic with the back-off people were doing, we were onto a good final lap, and unfortunately I just couldn’t do the final corner. It was so tricky to get through the final corner and that meant that I went off."

Having found a rich vein of form, Perez is upbeat and driving more comfortably than ever before, despite the hiccup that today's Qualifying will be overcome with their race pace.

“I think we are in a good place. We’ve been confident straightaway. I’m in a good moment with the car, so in any conditions, I think we can be competitive from now on, so that’s all very promising," Perez added when quizzed about his race expectations.

China hosts the first of six Sprint Race weekends scattered over the 2024 F1 World Championship calendar. It's also the first held at Shanghai which last held a GP in 2019.

Notably Red Bull has only won the Chinese GP twice, with Daniel Ricciardo (20??) and Sebastian Vettel (20?) but Verstappen and Perez never have. On the five occasions the Dutchman has raced he only once finished on the podium, turning P16 on the grid to P2 by chequered flag, back in 2017. In 2019 he finished P4.

When the Grand Prix was last in China, Perez finished P8 for Racing Point (now Aston Martin), the highest he has ever finished in the nine times he has raced in Shanghai. Report made possible by BC.GAME