Max Verstappen bemoaned Red Bull’s pace at the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix, feeling his team had gone backwards compared to 12 months ago.
Whereas the 2024 season-opening Bahrain GP saw Verstappen take a dominant victory, before Red Bull’s rivals caught the Milton Keynes-based outfit in the development race, this year’s event was a different story.
Any team encountering troubles can often rest on the fact that it’s relative to the competition, and at least the current car is a step beyond its predecessor.
Red Bull wasn’t without its issues in 2024, as balance problems plagued the RB20, but Verstappen thinks the evidence on display in Bahrain shows the RB21 is a step back from there.
“I just feel like we are even worse on tyres somehow this year,” the Dutchman exclaimed, speaking to select media, including Motorsport Week, after finishing sixth on Sunday.
“It makes it just very complicated. Because last year we were not too bad around here.
“Of course, then people made improvements, but I feel like we actually had a worse weekend than last year. So it’s a bit weird.”
Vertsappen said how Red Bull’s “lack of balance” was “highlighted even more on this track.
“When you have no balance and no tyre management, or worse tyre management than the others, then on this track it’s worse,” Verstappen added, citing Bahrain’s abrasive track surface.
Red Bull’s problems were compounded in Bahrain, as two separate pit-stop errors cost Verstappen vital time.
On the Dutchman’s first stop, a faulty light system delayed his getaway, and on the second, a jammed right front tyre caused an even lengthier stationary period.
But, Verstappen insisted, “The big problems here are the pace that we have. Basically tyre management and balance.
“Those are my main problems,” he added, in response to whether those operational errors were a concern.
Operational errors heightened Red Bull’s Bahrain struggle
Still, when the pace isn’t there, having pit-stop errors is the last thing you need.
“The pace was very bad, but of course I didn’t expect the race that I had, because basically everything went wrong that could go wrong,” Verstappen said.
“That probably made it a little bit worse.”
Regardless of whether Verstappen could have had a clean run down pit road, he felt his result was fair given Red Bull’s current struggles.
“I think the position where I finished is, at the end of the day, the maximum that we could have done,” he assessed.
Such errors in pit lane are uncharacteristic for Red Bull, which normally runs like a well-oiled machine during tyre changes.
“Normally our pit stops are good,” Verstappen confessed.
“I don’t know what happened today.”
Verstappen is well-known for his pursuit of perfection, and amid all the other issues Red Bull has currently, he admitted that “Waiting for so long and two separate problems, [is] not to our standards.”
Following a surprise win at Suzuka, what a difference a week makes.
READ MORE – Max Verstappen gives up F1 title hope amid Red Bull Bahrain woes
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