Max Verstappen had a race to forget in Bahrain after Red Bull suffered a spate of uncharacteristic errors.
The reigning world champion started seventh and only managed to make up one position by the time he crossed the chequered flag on Sunday night. “It was not to our standard,” he told reporters after the race.
The Dutchman lost a couple of seconds during his first pitstop when the light above the pitbox, which indicates when a driver can make a safe release, remained red. His second stop was then marred by issues with his front-right tyre, resulting in a 6.2-second pitstop.
“Everything went wrong that could go wrong,” Verstappen lamented. “The pace was very bad… so I think the position where I finished was the best that I could have done.”
He emphasised that the team’s “main problems” were balance and tyre management.
“The brakes were a little bit better today because we were allowed to change the material, but the problem is not only the feeling in the brakes – which is still not where I want it to be – but also our tyres are overheating,” he explained.
“So when I'm braking, there's no feeling because it's super easy to lock the fronts or rears at the same time.”
Verstappen said he felt “complicated” about the team’s performance, just one year after Red Bull took a 1-2 around the same circuit. “We are even worse on tyres this year. It makes it very complicated because last year we were not too bad around here,” he said, noting that Red Bull had “worse tyre management” than the other teams.
Despite the tricky weekend, the 27-year-old said he still had a positive mindset heading into the final leg of this triple-header.
“I don't need to reset, I’m OK. It is what it is. I always try to do the best I can, even in disappointing or frustrating situations, but we have to move on,” he said.
“We have our problems, and even if you win a race that doesn't go away. So we just keep discussing and keep trying to improve.”
