Max Verstappen said sixth place was a “good result” after encountering a litany of problems during the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Red Bull driver, who won the previous round at Suzuka, finished sixth in Bahrain after passing Pierre Gasly on the final lap of the race. That proved the highlight of an otherwise tough race.Verstappen lost ground at the start, then made an early pit stop to replace his soft tyres. However he lost time as Red Bull’s pit lane gantry lights remained red after the crew completed their work. His second stop was also delayed due to a slow tyre change.
Matters were little better on the track as he complained of overheating and poor braking response – the latter having been a problem throughout the weekend for Red Bull.
Afterwards he admitted finishing sixth was positive under the circumstances. “The start was not good, then the pace was not good in the beginning already, just tyres overheating again,” he told Sky. “The balance was not where I wanted it to be.
“Then at the first pit stop something went wrong with the lights, they stayed on. Now, you can drive through the lights, but that’s not the protocol of the team. So I had to just wait, but then I realised there was a problem.
“Then I was stuck in traffic. The hard tyres, unfortunately, they didn’t work. They were just basically lower grip and even higher deg[radation] for me. Then we pitted again, an even worse pit stop, so then I was last.”
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Making his second pit stop shortly before the Safety Car was deployed put Verstappen at a further disadvantage. “Considering everything, to still finish P6, also with the pace that we had, I think it’s still a good result,” he said. “There’s not much more that I guess we could have done.”
The Bahrain International Circuit showed up the main weaknesses of the RB21, said Verstappen. “We are bad on tyre management at the moment,” he said.
“The balance is not where I wanted it to be and then on a track like this it all gets highlighted, that’s for sure.”
While most of his rivals favoured the medium tyre compound for the race, Verstappen saved fresh sets of hards. This left him at a further disadvantage, he admitted.
“It made it worse. [But] even if I would have had two mediums, the position would have been the same. I was not at the same level as the cars ahead of me.”
After taking the chequered flag, Verstappen told his team passing Gasly “was at least positive [on] that last lap.”
“Oh my god, that was difficult,” he added. “Jesus.”
“Unfortunately a lot of things on our side also went wrong in that race,” he told them. “That doesn’t help.”
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Nulla Pax (@nullapax)
13th April 2025, 19:38
Your Dad will be dumping you at the next petrol station you loser!
MacLeod (@macleod)
14th April 2025, 7:58
@nullapax This is an comment not worthly for racefans..
Jere (@jerejj)
13th April 2025, 19:40
A total mess of an event for Red Bull Racing.
w0o0dy
13th April 2025, 21:45
Yeah no idea what is happening there but going from the tram with always superior pitstops to this S h IT show is remarkable.
Armchair Expert (@armchairexpert)
13th April 2025, 20:02
I wonder where are all these people claiming Red Bull is the 2nd fastest car after seeing Max performing a miracle at Suzuka and getting pole position and race win in a midfield car? Because that’s what it is, a midfield car and we have seen it today on a track, where machine matters much more than driver.
roadrunner (@roadrunner)
13th April 2025, 22:41
While the car appeared to be off the pace it wasn’t Verstappens finest weekend as well. He seemed a bit ragged from the get go. Had he been on his Suzuka form he probably would have been able to challenge at least one of the Ferraris.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
14th April 2025, 1:05
And obviously, the cars order isn’t the same at every track, this is the worst red bull we’ve seen in a while.
F1fan
18th April 2025, 10:45
There’s no form with Verstappen.
This is just pure cope and running away from the fact that Red Bull is in fact, a dud. When I want to make excuses to escape reality this is what I’d do for sure.
Esploratore (@esploratore1)
14th April 2025, 1:04
We say red bull is the 2nd fastest car when it is; this time it wasn’t and I don’t see anyone say it was.
David West
13th April 2025, 20:27
He can win in a Haas
Davethechicken
13th April 2025, 20:34
He won’t be happy with Yuki showing he could have overtaken him before backing off.
Dex
14th April 2025, 0:27
I don’t remember seeing that at all.
Ferdi
14th April 2025, 7:14
Non factual statements is the default around here nowadays (#longgonethef1fanaticsdays).
w0o0dy
13th April 2025, 21:49
Max lost 3 seconds in the pits alone… 5th would have been on the cards without the shambles that were the pitstops. And not being stuck in traffic could have meant closing up to 4th of he had the pace sorted. But the car is pretty terrible. You can see it on the on-boards. A lot of work to get/ keep that thing over the line in 6th.
Rihards
13th April 2025, 23:45
He lost 6 seconds in stops, not 3
M2X
14th April 2025, 8:57
It is a Jos predicted it when the Horny Horner scandal came out, “if you don’t manage this in the right way, the team will fall apart” and it did.
PV
14th April 2025, 10:50
Don’t think its Horners fault. The car is just not up there. imo it has to do with all the people who left the team, its a shame. MV wants/wanted to stay with RB for his entire career, I don’t think he feels that strongly anymore…
Jojo
14th April 2025, 23:56
I suppose it depends whether any of those people left the team because of Horner and the scandal or if they left for reasons unrelated. He can’t be blamed if people moved onto something new because it suited them or they felt like a change but if they left as a direct result of his actions, then that’s different.