Verstappen admits Red Bull ‘need to work harder’ as he reflects on ‘lonely’ race in Barcelona

Max Verstappen has conceded that Red Bull “need to work harder” after the Dutchman experienced a “lonely” drive to P4 in the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix, while team mate Isack Hadjar recovered from a tough start to claim P6.

Qualifying had left the drivers encouraged by the pace of the RB22, with Verstappen and Hadjar lining up in fifth and sixth respectively. Sunday’s race seemed to prove more challenging, however, and Verstappen crossed the line in fourth place nearly 17 seconds adrift of McLaren’s Lando Norris in third.

Sharing his thoughts on how his afternoon had gone, the four-time World Champion answered: “Pretty lonely to be honest for me the whole race. There was not so much going on – I was mainly just following the battle ahead on the screens, because for me we were just too slow.

“On every [tyre] compound we couldn’t follow, so every stint we lost a few seconds. A little bit tough, but on the other hand also [it’s] pretty much how the whole weekend was, I guess. On every compound I’m just lacking a little bit, so we tried to do our best.

“I think strategy-wise we did a good job – it was the winning strategy, so we cannot complain about that. We just need to work harder and try to improve the car.”

Looking ahead to where this leaves the team heading into the next round in Austria, Verstappen said: “With clear areas where we need to improve. The car’s lacking in some places, but at the same time I think also tyre management, we’re still a bit behind when you have the high-energy tracks, so that’s stuff we need to work on.”

On the other side of the Red Bull garage, Hadjar’s race got off to a difficult start when he slipped backwards during the opening lap, dropping him far down the order. The Frenchman managed to recover several positions as the event wore on, however, and ultimately climbed back up to sixth.

Despite salvaging this result, Hadjar could not hide his frustration over the issue of the launch when he assessed his race later on.

“We just need to work on our starts because it’s not possible to keep going like that every race weekend – it’s the same story,” he explained.

“Today was a nightmare, but the whole weekend I was struggling. It’s really the point we need to work on, because everyone’s made progress but I went backwards. The procedure is too difficult, the window is too small.”

Hadjar went on to suggest that the team are performing well aside from the problem surrounding the starts.

“Everything else but the start was very good,” he added. “That’s why it’s a bit frustrating – it’s like the easiest but at the same time the most important thing and we can’t do it. Everything else that’s very hard, we are doing it pretty well.

“I think the pace in Quali was good, race pace I felt fine – obviously the strategy had to be adapted to the start. [We just need] the start fixed, and then we can start talking.”