Something rare happened with Max Verstappen — and Red Bull think they’ve found the cause. The reigning champion faced an unexpected setback at the Qatar Grand Prix when his car, the RB21, struggled badly with the soft tyre compound during sprint qualifying. But here’s where it gets interesting: Red Bull’s own adviser, Helmut Marko, admitted the issue was especially severe on Verstappen’s side of the garage.
The Dutch driver could manage only the sixth-fastest time in the short sprint qualifying session at the Lusail International Circuit — unusually low by his standards. He’ll have Yuki Tsunoda beside him on the grid, who edged him out by a mere nine-thousandths of a second. That might sound minor, but it marked the first time all season Verstappen had been beaten in qualifying by his teammate since Tsunoda replaced Liam Lawson early in the campaign.
During the only free practice session before qualifying, Verstappen had already complained about the car clipping heavily through Turn 6. When the session turned competitive, his frustration grew, reporting uncomfortable bouncing when driving on the red-marked soft tyres. The instability sent him wide into the gravel, damaging the car’s floor and leaving him stuck with a lower grid position than usual.
Reflecting afterward, Helmut Marko didn’t hide the team’s concern. He explained that Red Bull remained quick on harder tyre compounds — both medium and hard sets performed well — but adjustments between sessions failed to fix the problem on the softs. Interestingly, Tsunoda seemed to benefit slightly under the same conditions: he gained a tenth of a second in the opening corner. The difference, as Marko explained, came down to setup preferences. Verstappen wanted a sharper front-end response, while Tsunoda wanted more grip from the rear — and it was Tsunoda’s balance that worked better in Qatar’s conditions.
“But thankfully it’s only the sprint,” Marko commented. “We need to figure out what’s going wrong with the soft tyres before tomorrow’s main qualifying.”
The most puzzling part? Red Bull found no signs of bouncing when running the medium tyres, even though ride height remained identical between both compounds. “We have to understand why this happened,” Marko said, acknowledging the mystery surrounding the RB21’s inconsistent behaviour.
When asked if Verstappen might have to fight through the same problem for the rest of the weekend, the 82-year-old adviser offered a cautious reply: “No, we hope we can solve it.”
Still, fans can’t help but ask: is this just a one-off glitch, or an early sign that Red Bull’s dominance could finally start cracking under pressure? Verstappen rarely faces limitations he can’t overcome — but tyre troubles like these can change an entire race weekend.
And this is the part most people miss: small differences in setup choices between teammates can sometimes expose deeper flaws in the car’s design philosophy. Could Red Bull’s search for perfection in front-end precision be coming back to bite them?
Stay tuned as the team works to unlock the RB21’s full potential. Meanwhile, you can keep up with every twist of the 2026 Formula 1 season by adding the full race calendar to your smartphone or computer with one click.
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What do you think — was this just a bad day for Max, or is Red Bull starting to show signs of vulnerability? Share your take below and join the debate.