Max Verstappen bemoaned set-up tweaks that failed to yield a positive result for Red Bull during qualifying for the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix.
After a surprise victory last time out at Suzuka, Verstappen and Red Bull knew that Bahrain would offer up a sterner challenge.
The RB21’s through corner balance issues are heightened by the Bahrain International Circuit’s low-grip, abrasive track surface, and Verstappen even struggled to make it out of Q1 on Saturday.
The Dutchman aborted his first run and had to put on a new set of softs to escape an early elimination.
“It happens,” Verstappem said to select media, including Motorsport Week, after qualifying.
“I mean, it’s of course not what you want, also to use an extra set. But with the problems that we had, you have to do that.”
The Dutchman’s Q1 mishap was triggered by brake feeling, and he continued to complain about this en route to Q3, whereby he finished in seventh.
All weekend I struggled a bit with that,” he said.
“Brakes, feeling and stopping power and besides that, also just, yeah, very poor grip.”
Whereas nearly half a year ago, set-up changes guided him to victory in Qatar, Round 4 of the 2025 season saw things swing the other way.
“We tried a lot on the setup, and basically all of it didn’t work,” Verstappen admitted.
“It didn’t give us a clear direction to work in. So, yeah, just overall a difficult weekend so far.”
No silver linings in double Q3 appearance for Red Bull
Verstappen’s seventh-place finish in qualifying sees him sit one place behind McLaren’s Lando Norris for Sunday’s race start, with Carlos Sainz’s Williams, Lewis Hamilton’s Ferrari and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda behind him in the top-10.
But Bahrain’s abrasive surface will make things doubly tricky in the race, as Red Bull’s poor tyre preservation isn’t a positive asset.
“I’ll try to do the best I can,” Verstappen said.
“I hope that I can stay a bit with the Mercedes and the Ferraris.
“Naturally, I think the McLarens will pull away. But, yeah, we’ll try our best. See what happens.”
Asked if there was any silver lining to Tsunoda joining Verstappen in Q3’s top-10 shootout, the Dutchman downplayed the significance.
“It depends if you have the pace,” he said.
“I don’t think we have. So the positive is that we have two cars in Q3.
“The negative is that we struggle for pace.
“So it’s nice to have two cars in there, but when you are too slow then it doesn’t matter.”
READ MORE – Max Verstappen concedes Red Bull has a ‘massive gap’ to McLaren in Bahrain
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