Verstappen plays down chances of winning in Mexico after tough qualifying

Max Verstappen's championship charge hit a speed bump at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Saturday as he qualified fifth and admitted his Red Bull had been "very difficult" to handle.

The four-time world champion, sitting 40 points behind McLaren's Formula One leader Oscar Piastri, made no attempt to sugar-coat his team's struggles despite winning three of the last four races.

"It's just been very difficult. I've tried a lot of stuff. It's not the lack of trying," Verstappen told reporters.

"There was just no grip. There's a turn where I have no traction, it slides. Basically, everything we tried didn’t really work. I need people to retire in front of me to go ahead," he added.

The struggles are particularly stinging at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, where Red Bull has historically been strong, though Verstappen was quick to dismiss assumptions based on past success.

"People always think you've won in Mexico five times before, so you need to be good. But last year we were not. The years before we probably had a big advantage to not really suffer."

QUALIFYING EXPERIMENTS

Red Bull's weekend was further hampered by qualifying experiments like a new floor that failed to deliver the desired results.

"We went into qualifying trying something again and we didn't get it quite right in some corners. It made it better in some places, but in other areas more difficult and that didn't allow me to push," he added.

Looking ahead to Sunday's race, Verstappen painted a grim picture of his prospects.

"I have no pace with the car, it doesn't matter what I do in turn one. Even if I jump cars, they will get me in the race," he said.