'A lot of stuff to figure out' for Verstappen - and F1's rule-makers
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Max Verstappen says he has "a lot of stuff to personally figure out" after qualifying 11th for the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver's comments come in the context of his dissatisfaction with Formula 1's engine rules, which he believes have diminished the sport's challenge.
"You know how I think about a lot of stuff, right?" Verstappen said. "I don't need to mention it again. So a lot of stuff for me to personally figure out."
Asked to clarify what he meant, the four-time champion said: "Life. Life here."
The performance of Verstappen and Red Bull at Suzuka on Saturday was a stark contrast with the past few years.
Verstappen was beaten in qualifying by his new team-mate Isack Hadjar, who starts eighth. The Dutchman has won the past five Japanese Grands Prix from pole position, which was claimed this time by Mercedes' Kimi Antonelli.
Last year, Verstappen's pole position lap to beat the two McLarens was widely hailed as one of his greatest and it proved the foundation of a defensive victory against Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
Red Bull have not started the new season in a competitive position following the biggest rule change in F1 history.
At the same time, Verstappen has been vocal about the new rules, which he has likened to "Mario Kart" and "Formula E on steroids" as a result of the new engines.
The hybrid engines have a 50-50 split between internal combustion and electrical power and require energy management throughout a qualifying lap which many drivers believe has diminished the challenge of some of the sport's most demanding corners.
Verstappen said: "I'm not even frustrated any more. I'm beyond that. I don't know the right word in English for it. I don't know what to make of it, to be honest.
"I don't even know. There's probably no word. I don't get upset about it. I don't get disappointed or frustrated by it any more with what's going on.
"It's a lot of stuff together that at the moment is just not as nice for me."
Loss of speed 'hurts your soul'
Several other drivers expressed their concerns about the impact of the new rules on qualifying.
They are focused on the energy profile of the new engines, which start to lose power at the end of straights long before the braking point for corners because they run out of electrical power.
This has meant drivers are entering corners such as Degner One and Spoon Curve at Suzuka slower than the limit of the car.
World champion Lando Norris, who starts fifth in his McLaren, said: "It still hurts your soul when you see your speed dropping so much, 56km/h down the straight.
"It still feels special. It still feels like it's an on-edge lap and you're taking risks here and there and so forth. Does it feel as amazing as last year? No, I don't think any track will.
"The car is better to follow, better to race. You can race better and closer and it's more exciting. The problem is the stuff that makes you go faster."
There are also levels of complexity that have been built into the rules that are causing engine behaviour with which drivers are not familiar.
This includes losing more power on straights than expected after a snap of oversteer because of the settings imposed on the engines.
Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton, who starts Sunday's race sixth, added: "(Energy) deployment is definitely a big part of it. My first lap, I was up at least to Charles (Leclerc) but lost 0.25secs just down the back straight because of deployment. Had a snap oversteer, which changed the whole algorithm.
"It's not ideal. It should be like you catch it and you keep going. That's where these rules aren't so great."
Leclerc said: "For everybody, going into Q3 is just not the nicest feeling because we want to be at the limit of the car and whenever you play with those limits not only do you pay the price of a small snap but you also pay triple the price in the straight.
"This is very frustrating because qualifying is all about us trying to find the limit and play with the limit, and at the moment whenever you play with the limit you get destroyed in the straights.
"So you've got to stay right underneath it, which is an art in itself.
"All the good drivers make the difference anyway but I think it's less rewarding for the drivers that like to push over [the limit], most of the time in Q3 that's paying off but not with these cars."
'Not good enough for F1'
F1's rule-makers have agreed that the rules for qualifying need looking at to address this issue.
A meeting will be held in the wake of this weekend's race to discuss what should be done.
However, they also want to make sure that positive aspects of the rules - including much increased levels of overtaking - are not affected.
Hamilton said: "I'm not expecting much from it, but I hope they make some big changes. "It's just there'll be a lot of chefs in the kitchen. Doesn't help with a good recipe."
Williams driver Carlos Sainz, a director of the Grand Prix Drivers' Association, said the drivers had been reassured by the FIA's single-seater director Nicolas Tombazis at a meeting on Friday that changes would be made.
Sainz said: "The more you push, the slower you went. So, overall not good enough for F1.
"And listening to [governing body] the FIA yesterday, they seem to have a plan in mind. I am a bit worried some teams will push back, some will be against changing too much because they have other interests.
"But we have made it very clear from the drivers that it needs to get better and hopefully the FIA listens more to the drivers than the teams."
McLaren team principal Andrea Stella said: "As a community, as an F1 community, we have identified that the priority number one, apart from safety, was qualifying, and driving in qualifying to the limit of grip and to make sure that the drivers that are best at exploiting the grip, and at times even take the risks to do so, they are rewarded.
"Here in Suzuka, because we have this shortage of energy, we expose some of the limitations of the current regulations.
"Degner One is now a corner in which you almost lift and roll through the corner, and then you have to avoid going on power between Degner One and Two, because that way of using your battery would not be efficient.
"Instead, that corner has always been one that the drivers will mention in a season, like what are the most challenging corners, that's one of those.
"At the moment, that corner is kind of, you know, you think about the battery as you go through the corner, you don't think about gaining half a tenth just by committing to it.
"The first corner at the Spoon as well, similar concept applies between the first part and second part of the Spoon.
"I can understand that the drivers push the F1 community to fix this, such that qualifying retains the excitement, the challenge, the DNA of being the moment in which the best driver gets rewarded, especially in the places where they can make the difference with the bravery and the ability.
"It is not obvious as to how to do that, but there are some possibilities, and there are some further meetings that will happen between the teams, the FIA and F1, between now and (the next race in) Miami, so let's see what progress we can do there."
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