‘It’s extra painful’ – Verstappen reveals 'double whammy' that hampered his Silverstone Qualifying

Max Verstappen has detailed how a “double whammy” of issues hampered his Qualifying efforts at the British Grand Prix, with the Dutchman admitting that the problems made for an “extra painful” session en route to P7.

After battling hard in the Sprint before falling back to P6, Verstappen and Red Bull initially looked to have made a decent start in Qualifying, the four-time World Champion ending Q1 in third place while team mate Isack Hadjar had gone fastest.

Some issues appeared to kick in as the session progressed, however, with Verstappen reporting that the engine was “not responding as normal” in Q2, before he wound up in seventh – behind Hadjar in fifth – when Q3 reached its conclusion.

Reflecting back on Qualifying after stepping out of the car, Verstappen explained: “[There were] two things. The whole session, like of course not a good balance, but at the same time terribly slow on the straight for whatever reason, even compared to the other car.

“We couldn’t fix it from the first run until the end. I mean, when you’re slow on the straight here, you’re more full-throttle, you burn more battery… so it’s just like a spiral and it gets worse and worse throughout to the end of the lap. It’s like a double whammy, so it’s extra painful.”

Asked if battling the McLarens looked like being the best-case scenario in Sunday’s race – and if Mercedes and Ferrari were out of reach – the 28-year-old answered: “We first have to fix our own problems.

“When you’re already just lacking top speed, that’s a major problem around here so that’s something that we need to understand also for tomorrow.”

On the other side of the garage, Hadjar appeared more content with how the RB22 felt – but admitted that it was difficult to be so off the pace of the team’s rivals.

“I think yesterday I was fairly happy with the car – I just made a step I think, day two, made a step driving-wise, and very little mistakes,” the Frenchman said.

“So I think that was good, but still it hits hard when you’re six tenths behind pole after a very good lap. And the thing is, I feel like the car is pretty good, so it’s hard to, at the moment, see how we can do to fight ahead.”

Hadjar conceded that the Mercedes and Ferrari cars appeared too far away in Red Bull’s fight, adding: “I think you saw today’s Sprint race was kind of clear, the rankings in terms of race pace – like Mercedes, Ferrari and then McLaren, and then us.

“And I think if we can bring the fight to McLaren, that’s already a very good job.”