Max Verstappen admits Red Bull’s Bahrain woes leave them with “a lot to investigate” after an inconsistent qualifying performance in the RB21.
The history-making duo of Verstappen and Red Bull Racing have not started 2025 in the way many anticipated. Despite his clinical Suzuka win, the Dutch driver has continually fought with his RB21 on many fronts. This was evident throughout qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, in which he only managed P7 on the grid.
Speaking after Qualifying, Verstappen was not shy to speak on the difficulties he’s faced all weekend.
“For whatever reason, I’ve been struggling with the brakes. The feeling also, feeling retardation, so it’s something that we need to investigate.”
“And then general grip, I guess, throughout the lap, [it was] quite inconsistent.”
Regardless of the changes made to the car’s set-up, Red Bull struggled to find a solution to the problems Verstappen faced throughout the weekend. The frustration was evident as Verstappen was around four-tenths off the qualifying pace of Oscar Piastri.
High-degradation tracks like Bahrain traditionally played to Red Bull’s strengths. But Verstappen sounded less than optimistic about his chances in the race.
“In the past, high-deg tracks have been good to us, but with the balance that we had today, I think it will be very difficult.
A Tale of Two Garages
Despite Verstappen’s struggles, the team had positives with Yuki Tsunoda. The Japanese driver who was recently promoted to the Red Bull team managed to make it into Q3, for the first time as a Red Bull Racing driver.
Tsunoda, however, was quick to set realistic expectations for today’s race. Describing his flying lap as a “big mystery,” adding to the rollercoaster of emotions he’s experienced this weekend.
“If you just see results in free practice, I was nowhere. Considering that, it was a good recovery.”
However, Tsunoda echoed the words of his teammate, admitting the RB21 operates within a “narrow window” of performance. Making it difficult to find consistency in the car, especially as a new driver.
“I’m still just trying to find the performance to be in the consistent window, to be in the window that this car operates which is quite narrow, and I’m struggling to consistently be on that.
“But I’m not rushing, to be honest, it’s just the second race. This is still my sixth session probably, so I think it was good progress so far. I’ll just keep doing what I’m doing.”
All eyes to the Grand Prix
With only one point separating Lando Norris and Max Verstappen in the championship battle, Verstappen and Red Bull will be eager to outperform McLaren. However, the current reliability issues with the RB21 could see McLaren run away with yet another double podium finish.
Verstappen remains confident, however, that his Red Bull will be able to contest the second and fourth-best teams of Mercedes and Ferrari.
“But of course, I’m only looking forward – I’m trying to at least better some cars ahead. Normally the McLarens I think will be too quick, but maybe the other ones we can follow.”
