Max Verstappen has sounded the alarm for Red Bull after a bruising opening day at the Bahrain Grand Prix, where the reigning world champion found himself more than eight tenths of a second adrift of McLaren’s pace-setting Oscar Piastri in Friday’s FP2.
Following a commanding 1-2 performance by McLaren under the lights at Sakhir, Verstappen could only muster the seventh-fastest time in FP2, 0.825s behind Piastri, while teammate Yuki Tsunoda clocked in a distant 18th.
Last week’s Japanese Grand Prix victor was left visibly frustrated with his RB21's handling and performance throughout the day, his radio often crackling with brake complaints as he labeled Red Bull’s gap to McLaren “massive.”
‘Not a Lot of Fun’ for Verstappen
Friday’s evening session, mirroring race and qualifying conditions, painted a grim picture for the reigning champions, and Verstappen didn’t hold back in his assessment of Red Bull’s struggles under the Bahrain lights.
“Get to grips with the car? Good one! I had no grip,” he said candidly. “It was just difficult. Of course took a few laps to get into it but the gap was quite massive so not entirely happy.
“Just struggling a lot with grip and feeling in general.”
While he clarified that the car’s balance wasn’t drastically off, he admitted the overall performance was lacking.
“The balance wasn’t too bad, just off,” he said. “Quite a bit of work to do also in the long run. We’re just too slow basically, every lap. Honestly it was not a lot of fun out there in the long runs.
“A bit of drift practice at the end there as well.”
When asked directly about the gap to McLaren, Verstappen didn’t sugar-coat it: “It’s big. We did a bit of a different approach to our Friday so I think this gap is very big.”
Horner: ‘A Lot of Work to Do’
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner echoed Verstappen’s concerns, acknowledging McLaren’s clear edge heading into the rest of the weekend.
“We’ve got quite a bit to do tonight, I think,” Horner told Viaplay. “The McLarens look very, very quick. With Mercedes and Ferrari it all looks pretty close, but McLaren definitely look like they have a few tenths on the rest of the field.”
While Red Bull managed to turn things around between Friday and Saturday in Japan, Horner warned that Bahrain presents a very different challenge due to its hot and abrasive surface.
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“First of all, we’ve got to understand how we can improve what we have, which is mainly temperature-related, I think,” he explained.
“It is impossible to repeat what he did last week over a single lap and then holding the cars behind for an entire grand prix. This is a track you can overtake at relatively easily, so a lot of work to do with the engineers tonight.”
Marko: ‘This Track Just Doesn’t Suit US’
Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko provided additional insight into the team’s issues, saying their problems went well beyond engine modes and into the heart of tyre management.
“We are too slow and the tyres are becoming far too hot,” Marko explained. “It’s basically confirming what Max already said yesterday, that Bahrain will be a more difficult one for Red Bull.
“The main problem is the tyre temperature, which we can’t keep under control. And as soon as the temperature goes up, we are sliding, which makes it worse.”
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Marko noted a brief moment where Red Bull matched McLaren’s pace, but it was fleeting.
“Strangely enough, at one stage the tyre recovered and we were doing the same lap times as Lando, but that was only three or four laps out of 15. This track just doesn’t suit us and neither do these high temperatures.”
With just a day to solve their issues before qualifying, Red Bull is now under pressure to respond to McLaren’s growing momentum.
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