Red Bull driver Max Verstappen has issued a scathing assessment of the RB20’s new trimmed wing, which he says is ‘a bit of a handicap’ in the DRS. Consequently, Verstappen revealed that the RB20 lost top speed by a considerable margin, which led to him securing P5 in qualifying for the Las Vegas Grand Prix.

During the qualifying session another Mercedes topped the time charts after dominating practice, but this time it was George Russell who managed to set another best lap towards the end of Q3. Unfortunately the same couldn’t be said for Lewis Hamilton who had a moment in his final run which prevented him from getting above P10.

While Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz and Alpine’s Pierre Gasly secured P2 and P3, Verstappen managed to take P5 thanks to his rear wing. However, he managed to get the tires up to the right operating temperature, which could prove beneficial in his quest for a fourth Grand Prix championship victory. Speaking about the challenges he expects for the race on the Strip, he said:

“We know that with our wing you naturally lose top speed, especially with the DRS open, that is a bit of a handicap, we know that.

“It’s something we have to deal with at a track like this, like Monza, but beyond that I felt that with the tires we would struggle to get them in the right working window – and we did the best we could with it . what we had and we were a bit lucky that Lewis didn’t do a lap, otherwise it would have been P6.

“We optimized as a team, but it’s still too slow, but half of it is on the straight.

“The wing is not the most efficient, but hopefully because everyone is close in DRS it is a little better, but if you trim the DRS you have less DRS effect – and that is what is painful in qualifying.

“It will be difficult, but hopefully we are good on the tires and we have made some changes that will also benefit the tires.”

In response to the speculation about the rear wing, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner made it clear after free practice that the team had not forgotten to bring a low-downforce rear wing for the Las Vegas Grand Prix. Horner made the statement following reports claiming Red Bull had completely forgotten about the wing. He explained that due to cost constraints the team does not have a special rear wing specifically designed for street circuits. Instead, he relies on a shortened version of his existing wing to meet such conditions.