Verstappen: We were so slow it was a joke

Already in qualifying with everything dialled up to the maximum, Verstappen was seven tenths shy of the pole-winning time of Lewis Hamilton, Indeed Saturday was a bad day for Renault-engined cars at what has become a power-hungry circuit.

After spinning out late in the race as a result of brake failure on his Red Bull, Verstappen told reporters, "We were too slow on the straight to do anything. You could see all the time when we had a safety car we were like drag racing. We were so slow it was a joke."

"On lap one I had a brake-by-wire issue but then it recovered. However, after the second safety car, the brake pedal went literally to the floor, the rear brakes locked up and I spun off the track. It is racing, I’ve had it many times before and for sure it will happen in the future."

"We will now start to investigate what actually happened, but even without the brake issue we were just too slow on the straights to do anything

"For sure I would have liked to have finished fifth and get some points but now we go home with nothing," lamented the Dutchman who is now sixth in the championship, 77 points down on championship leader Sebastian Vettel

Instead, it was teammate Daniel Ricciardo who inherited fifth, the Australian echoing his teammate, "We didn't have the legs."

Team chief Christian Horner added, "Our drivers were, unfortunately, powerless to attack or defend against our opponents today and we were extremely exposed on the straights. We knew all weekend, our straight-line speed was no match for Mercedes or Ferrari."

Next year Red Bull will join Toro Rosso with Honda power units until then they are enduring a final season with TAG-Heuer badged Renault engines.