Sawt Falasteen - Despondent Verstappen says Red Bull woes 'not sustainable'

The four-time world champion finished eighth in Suzuka, ending his four-year reign as Japanese Grand Prix champion in ruthless fashion.

Verstappen has cut a forlorn figure in Japan, calling his car "undriveable" after qualifying in a lowly 11th for the race.

His mood improved little after the race, which saw him move to ninth place in the championship standings, 60 points behind leader Kimi Antonelli of Mercedes after three races.

"Yesterday was a disaster, today in the race I just maximised my race but the feeling in the car is just the same as qualifying," said Verstappen.

"I was just trying to hang on to it basically in the race."

Verstappen has consistently railed against new Formula One regulations that see a 50-50 split between conventional and electrical power.

He sought a change of scenery by competing in a four-hour race in Germany before the Japanese Grand Prix.

He will not compete again in F1 until the Miami Grand Prix on May 3, after the Bahrain and Saudi Arabia races scheduled for April were cancelled because of the war in the Middle East.

When asked how he would fill his time during the break, Verstappen answered: "I'll do some more racing, some stuff that makes me smile.

"And at the same time speak to the team as well, to try and find more pace and some more stable balance because this is not sustainable for us as a team," he added.

"We need to work hard to understand our problems and bring improvements."

Verstappen's Red Bull team-mate Isack Hadjar finished 12th after starting from eighth on the grid.

Team boss Laurent Mekies said there was "not just one area we can pinpoint as being the cause of our difficulties".

"We won't have solved everything by the next race, but the team will do the heavy lifting and get to the bottom of our difficulties," he said.

R.AbuNasser--SF-PST