Watch: Max Verstappen Suffers his Second Spin of the Day and Beaches his RB16

Max Verstappen seems to be struggling a little with the RB16 or is pushing it to its limit. The Dutchman was facing the wrong way yet again, after suffering another spin on the fifth day of preseason testing. However, unlike his previous spin, Verstappen’s car was trapped in the sand.

Max Verstappen spins – trapping his RB16 in the gravel

The Dutch star had earlier spun on the entry to the penultimate corner of the track. His RB16 had aero rakes on at the time. The cooler temperatures of the circuit seem to be catching a lot of drivers by surprise, especially in the slow-speed corners.

This has resulted in quite a few embarrassing slow speed spins, due to cold tyres and a cold track.

Unfortunately, Verstappen spun once again at turn 5 in the middle sector of the track. The Dutchman attempted an aggressive entry into the left-hander, but his RB16 ‘s rear just didn’t stick. The car ended up in the gravel, beached for good – red flagging the session.

So far, Max Verstappen has spun 6 times in pre-season testing. The Dutchman also ended day 4 with a spin, leaving his RB16 stranded on the track.

Red Bull have impressed so far in testing and are looking like Mercedes’ primary rivals. Ferrari has admitted the car’s lack of pace, which will only benefit the defending champions. This could be Ferrari sandbagging, but on paper, the Italian team haven’t set the timing screens ablaze.

Verstappen spoke of the importance of challenging Mercedes on a consistent basis throughout the race weekend. At times, Red Bull was competitive in qualifying but not race day and vice versa. The team also failed to develop a car that was consistent on various circuits.

“So far this year the car is definitely an improvement, but it also has to be if you want to fight for the championship.

“We focus on ourselves and then we find out in Melbourne where we are,”

“At the end of the day, you don’t look at it yet because testing is a different track to where the first race is as well. What is the most important is that you try a lot of things and you know what the car’s reacting to,”  said Verstappen, speaking to F1.

Lance Stroll currently leads the timing charts in testing, followed by Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen.