Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has branded the problems that encapsulated the team’s weekend at the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix as both “alarming” and “unacceptable”.
The morale boost that Verstappen had provided with his heroic win at Suzuka was dispelled under the lights in Sakhir as he was powerless to progress higher than sixth.
Having qualified as low as seventh on the grid, Verstappen conceded that he isn’t in the running to retain his title in 2025 as Red Bull’s problems with the RB21 were exposed.
Verstappen’s concern that Red Bull’s pace wouldn’t improve in race trim was realised as struggles on the Hard compound saw him drop as low as ninth place at one stage.
Red Bull’s anguish was compounded as pit stop problems culminated in Verstappen and team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, who ended up ninth, both sustaining sluggish releases.
But while a switch to the favourable Medium tyre helped Verstappen to recover to sixth to minimise the damage, Marko blasted Red Bull’s execution with an uncompetitive car.
“It’s a very difficult day for Red Bull, that’s obvious to all of us,” Marko addressed.
“We have to get, as soon as possible, performance in the car again and also standards like a pitstop have to work. The car is not the fastest and then the pitstops are not working. That is not acceptable.”
Red Bull holds crisis talks
Red Bull’s calamitous showing triggered an urgent meeting between the team’s top brass, involving Marko, boss Christian Horner and Technical Director Pierre Wache.
Marko divulged that Red Bull has updates in the pipeline which will be tailored towards eradicating the inherent limitations that are embedded within the team’s RB21 package.
When asked how concerning Red Bull’s slump in Bahrain was, the Austrian responded: “Very alarming. We know that we are not competitive, and there will be parts coming in the coming races, and hopefully they bring improvement.
“We have a lot of problems. The main problem is balance and grip. And out of this, so I guess the problems with the brakes came up. And then the normal procedure like a pitstop is not working, so one [problem] comes after the other.”
READ MORE – Max Verstappen gives up F1 title hope amid Red Bull Bahrain woes
