Red Bull F1 team principal Laurent Mekies admitted his squad is "very far" from the frontrunners in Japan after crippling balance issues have left his drivers off the pace.
Max Verstappen and Isack Hadjar ended the day in 10th and 15th respectively, over 1.3 seconds off the front, after Red Bull struggled to dial in the balance of its RB22, which saw substantial upgrades in the shape of a revised sidepod and engine cover, and a tweak to the floor geometry.
Verstappen feared there would be "no easy fix" for Red Bull's car woes after set-up changes turned understeer into oversteer between Friday's two practice sessions, and his team boss Mekies felt that pessimism was warranted.
"We are very far, lacking quite a lot of performance," he told Sky Germany. "I think you can also hear it with the comments of our drivers. We have been unable so far to give them a car they could push with. So, we have quite a few fundamental things to sort out on our side.
