Verstappen laments Red Bull's 'disaster' China Sprint

Max Verstappen called his China Sprint experience 'a disaster' after the Red Bull driver recovered to only ninth and outside the points after a poor start.

The four-time World Champion started P8 for Saturday's 19-lap Sprint but fell almost to the back of the field after he struggled to get his RB22 off the line at the start.

The Dutchman recovered up the order after making a late pit stop for soft Pirelli tyres under a Safety Car, but fell short of finishing in the points after a difficult race.

"I had no power, probably a similar issue to what Liam [Lawson] had in Melbourne," said Verstappen on his poor start.

"But even after that, of course I could make my way forward a little bit but [had] terrible balance [and] more degradation than the people around me in the midfield. Pretty much a disaster I would say."

Red Bull team mate Isack Hadjar fared little better, the Frenchman having collided with Kimi Antonelli on the opening lap, with the Mercedes driver handed a 10-second penalty for the incident.

Hadjar was able to continue but with damage, negating any advantage he might have had starting on the soft tyre compared with the medium runners around him.

After a brief battle with Verstappen and also pitting under the Safety Car, Hadjar eventually slipped to P15 at the chequered flag.

"With damage I couldn't do anything," said Hadjar. "We wanted to understand how the soft was working but we didn't get a read in the end.

"There's a few things to change that's for sure," he added when asked about the rest of the weekend. "We don't expect to be finding a second, or two seconds, that's for sure. It's going to be a long one."