Max Verstappen has complained about the changes made to his Red Bull car after finishing sixth in qualifying for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix on Saturday.

The 26-year-old has struggled in recent weeks and his problems have continued ahead of Sunday’s main event.

Verstappen was passed by Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez for the first time this season.

And now the Dutchman has complained about the changes made to his RB20.

“I knew after the first run in Q1 that it was going to be difficult,” he told Viaplay.

“A few things have changed on the car and that makes it very difficult. There’s a lot of bounce at the back, so every time you go in and out of a corner the car bounces a lot.

“That makes it very difficult. Q2 then went pretty well, but for me, in the car, I felt things weren’t right.

“I couldn’t optimise in the middle of the corner. I also had a little understeer, which you don’t want on a street circuit.”

Verstappen then went on to criticise the car, describing the day as “really bad”.

“Of course Q3 should have been better, but in the first run I clearly made a small mistake in the last corner,” he added.

“That’s when the car went in the wrong direction. In the next run I bounced a lot again.

“And if you’re not completely comfortable with that, you can’t attack.

“We adjusted a few things and of course you know where it comes from.

“It’s a pity. Of course you always try to do the best you can. It’s not like I was bored in the car or anything, but I knew it was going to be tough.”

Red Bull boss Christian Horner also had a reaction to qualifying.

The Briton admitted the team needed to investigate Verstappen’s complaints, although he insisted he was not worried ahead of tomorrow’s race.

“It was just a crappy Q3,” he said.

“The balance of the car actually looked pretty good in Q2. The balance of the car actually looked pretty good in Q2. Max was pretty happy with that.

“And unfortunately he didn’t get those last two sets of tyres. So we need to look at why.”

He added: “It’s a track where you can overtake. So those starts weren’t disastrous.

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a lead here.

“Unfortunately we haven’t broken that record yet today.”

Charles Leclerc will start the Azerbaijan Formula 1 Grand Prix in pole position after taking pole position, with Oscar Piastri in second and Carlos Sainz Jr in third.