Ben Barnicoat admitted that changes to the Mercedes-AMG GT3 failed to deliver the desired improvement during qualifying at Portimão, leaving Verstappen Racing facing a difficult challenge in Sunday's three-hour endurance race.

Verstappen Racing could only manage 15th place in qualifying, with the Mercedes struggling with excessive bouncing and bottoming out throughout the session. Despite the disappointing result, Barnicoat remains confident that the team can fight its way through the field.

Speaking after qualifying, the Brit explained that the team experimented with different settings in an attempt to extract more performance from the car, but the adjustments failed to produce the expected results: "Definitely, tough session. We felt like we'd been missing a little bit of speed. We've been quite high up the timesheets, but none of us have been super happy. So, we tried a couple of things there, and obviously, it just didn't quite work out."

The Mercedes was visibly producing sparks as it made contact with the track surface, while bouncing on the straights further complicated matters for the drivers: "Lots of sparking, as we all saw on TV, a lot of bouncing in the straight line. So, I think we just missed it a little bit. But, you know, 15th, could be worse."

Nevertheless, Barnicoat insisted that the starting position does not necessarily reflect what Verstappen Racing can achieve over the course of Sunday's race: "It's a three hour race, we're all gonna get out there and do our best. It's never over until it's over in these endurance races. We've got a great lineup, great team. I still believe we can do it tomorrow."

There is still work to do for Verstappen Racing - Photo: SRO/JEP

Barnicoat confident Verstappen Racing can recover

Despite the difficulties encountered in qualifying, Barnicoat pointed to the team's previous performances as evidence of its potential. The Mercedes squad arrives in Portugal following a podium finish at the Nürburgring, where Dani Juncadella, Jules Gounon and Chris Lulham demonstrated the car's competitiveness: "The team have been up front the whole time and they're obviously fresh off a podium at Nürburgring last time with Dani, Jules and Chris. We know we're capable of it."

Barnicoat also acknowledged that adapting to the Mercedes has presented challenges, particularly given his previous experience behind the wheel of a Lexus: "I think, for me, getting used to the Mercedes, it's been a little bit of a struggle, quite a few differences from my Lexus that I'm used to."

However, the Briton believes the performances of Verstappen and Chris Lulham provide further encouragement ahead of the race: "Max has been strong, Chris has been strong, so I'm sure we'll be okay come tomorrow. We just got it a little bit wrong then, but, you know, we know what we did we know how to make it better."

Barnicoat concluded by emphasising the winning mentality within the team, which includes a four-time Formula 1 world champion: "We're winners, we're all winners, got four-time world champion. We're going to go to business tomorrow and try and get to the front."

Asked which driver would take the opening stint, Barnicoat declined to reveal the team's plans: "I don't think I'm allowed to give that one away."