Verstappen says it will be ‘hard to be in the top five’ in Dutch GP Qualifying after difficult Friday

Max Verstappen has admitted that even reaching the top five in the Dutch Grand Prix will be a tough ask, having endured a difficult Friday at his home event.

The four-time and reigning World Champion failed to challenge practice pacesetter Lando Norris on Friday at a Zandvoort Circuit where he has won three times in the last four years.

Verstappen finished the opening practice session sixth, nearly a second off Norris' pace, and even found himself in the gravel at Turn 1 after the chequered flag having locked-up following a practice start.

With his RB21 recovered after becoming stuck in the gravel, Verstappen would finish FP2 in fifth but still six-tenths away from Norris' McLaren.

"I think it will be hard enough to be in that top five it looks like," said Verstappen.

"Still struggling with the same things and again we tried a lot of things with the car but it just doesn't really seem to change anything in terms of my underlying problem.

"We'll look over night to find a bit more but I'm not going to expect a massive turnaround. It's just tricky, plus the layout of the track also probably doesn't suit our problems that we have with the car."

Red Bull team mate Yuki Tsunoda was closer to Verstappen on Friday, finishing 16th and seventh across both one-hour sessions having suffered a small off in FP1 through Turn 12.

The Japanese driver has come under mounting pressure having failed to score any points in the last seven races, with the remaining 10 races the chance to solidify his spot at Red Bull in 2026.

"FP1 started pretty well to be honest. Afterwards I had a few things but when you try to extract performance it can happen," he said.

"Obviously it was not ideal [going off] but at the same time at least I know the limit and FP2 was just a bit more putting it all together. I think the short run went well, a bit of fine-tuning I guess, but the long run, I guess a bit of limitation I felt more."