The results of Red Bull in Bahrain confirm that the performance of Max Verstappen in Japan was dantesque, camouflaging the many difficulties of the Austrian team at the start of the 2025 season.
Seventh on the grid after difficult qualifications, nothing helped the quadruple champion during the race since he had to compose with a multitude of inconveniences penalizing him. Despite the incredible talent of the Batavian, the exploits cannot be recurrent and on the Sakhir circuit, the Dutchman has gnawed his brake. In the literal and figurative sense, the Red Bull N ° 1 having suffered from overheating of its tires and its braking system during the race.
« Basically, everything went wrong, explained Max Verstappen. We took a bad start, our rhythm was bad from the start and we had overheating of the tires too large compared to the competition in front of us. »»
The heat of the Middle East destabilized the champion’s car but not that, the whole Red Bull team seemed to be in distress in Bahrain, even the equipment was recalcitrant. Like the lighting system – fires indicating to the pilots if the track is free after a stop at the stands – which was blocked on the red, causing an incomprehension for the pilots and wasting precious seconds.
Then, the gear of the disappointments was oiled and during the second stop of Verstappen, its right front wheel proved to be difficult to remove. “” At the first stop, I wanted to stick to the protocol so I wanted to respect the red light and it put me in the traffic, then the tires did not work and then, the second stop turned out to be worse than the first and I found myself last. »»
Finally sixth in the Grand Prix, Max Verstappen was able to save the furniture and did not blame his team: ” All well considered, to finish sixth, it’s not bad. Anyway, doing better was not possible, even with good stops or other tires. It is obvious that this is not what we want, but it is simply our current level. »»
Future developments on the RB21 of Verstappen and Tsunoda
The Austrian stable consultant Helmut Marko showed his dissatisfaction with these inadvertances of the team during the race weekend in Bahrain. “” We were simply slow, but if in addition to a not fast car, stops at the stands do not work, it is not acceptable ”, reacted the 81 -year -old former pilot.
« We had two problems this weekend: a braking problem and an imbalance problem, said the Austrian. When you encounter these problems, tire degradation is all the more visible and nWe have struggled to exceed Gasly for example. But we are going to get out of it and I hope that we will be more competitive during European races. »»
To make up for the difficulties of the Milton Keynes stable, new parts should be installed on the car for the next races. “” The team is very focused on the development of the car and, hopefully, improvements will be made in the next races to resolve the problems raised, revealed Christian Horner. Bahrain has highlighted some of our weaknesses and we have to overcome them quickly. We understand where the problems are located, but the implementation of solutions takes a little time. »»
For his part, Yuki Tsunoda scored his first points at Red Bull. It is the first time of the year that the two single -seaters have recorded units.
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