Max Verstappen wasn’t too happy after he retired from the Chinese Grand Prix on Sunday following 45 laps due to a car issue.

That abbreviated finish came on the heels of the 28-year-old Dutchman’s “disaster” during Saturday’s Sprint.

“Same problem as yesterday in the start, so we were last again, and then tried to find my way forward but again (we had) the same problem as in the Sprint, where there was just a lot of deg, a lot of graining on the tires,” Verstappen said.

“That always makes it very complicated, and then we had to retire the car with the ERS (Energy Recovery System) cooling issues.”

When pressed about how Red Bull can respond following an uneventful weekend, the four-time Formula 1 world champion (2021-24) was quick with a response.

“Yeah, I mean a lot to learn from,” he said. “It’s definitely not where we want to be, of course, but I also know that the team is giving it everything, so it’s frustrating for me but also frustrating for them.

“At the end of the day we need to try and figure it out together. We’ll of course try to be a bit better for Japan, but after that we have a bit of a bigger break now that hopefully we can use to sort some stuff out.”

Kimi Antonelli, a 19-year-old Italian, won his first Formula 1 race by driving to victory in the Chinese Grand Prix in Shanghai.

Antonelli finished ahead of Mercedes teammate George Russell by 5.515 seconds, while Lewis Hamilton placed third for his first podium with Ferrari.

–Field Level Media