Verstappen accepts that he’s not in the title fight at the moment
Max Verstappen could be forgiven for being angry after what was a hugely disappointing Formula 1 Bahrain GP.
In fact he was pretty philosophical after what was by his standards a hugely frustrating weekend at Sakhir.
He struggled throughout with balance and brake issues, as well as tyre management. Just to add to the problems he had two slow pitstops, the first compromised by an issue with the traffic light system, and the second by wheels not going on and off the car cleanly.
Passing Pierre Gasly on the last lap was a bonus of sorts for Verstappen, but nevertheless a distant sixth place was not what he wants or expects.
“The pace was very bad,” he said after the flag. “But of course, I didn’t expect the race that I had, because basically, everything went wrong that could go wrong. That probably made it a little bit worse. I think the position where I finished is at the end of the day the maximum that we could have done.”
In the circumstances he was remarkable cool about it, in contrast for example to Monza last season when he suggested his title challenge might falter at Monza if the car didn’t get better – a rare example of him making his frustration clear in public.
On that occasion he was in the heat of a World Championship battle and fighting a rear guard action against the McLarens, but this year it’s very different.
He seems to have accepted that the title has already gone, telling Dutch journalist in Bahrain that he’s not in the fight. In that context one particularly bad race is perhaps not as stressful as it might otherwise be.
“I don’t need to reset,” he said. “I’m okay. It’s what it is. I always try to do the best I can, even in disappointing, or let’s say frustrating situations, but you have to move on. And you keep discussing, keep trying to improve.
“We know that we have our problems, even if we win a race, that doesn’t go away. I said that already last week. I’m anyway not a guy that I think when you have positive or negative scenarios that you get influenced it a lot, I just stay very neutral. Just have to keep on working.”
Verstappen had struggled with the brakes throughout the weekend. The team changed some parts under parc ferme, but the issue resurfaced during the race.
“The brakes were a little bit better today, because we were allowed to change the material,” he said.
“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 just overheating. So when I’m braking, there is no feeling, because it’s super easy to lock fronts or rears at the same time.”
He added: “I just feel like we are even worse on tyres somehow this year, makes it just very complicated, because last year we were not too bad around here, of course then people made improvement, but I feel like we actually had a worse weekend than last year. A bit weird.”
The big mystery remains how Red Bull found the sweet spot in qualifying and the race at Suzuka, or least successfully enough for Verstappen to outrun the McLarens.
“It’s hit or miss,” he said. “Friday in Suzuka was bad, qualifying was a bit better. The race, of course, was a bit better. It’s not where I wanted to be but at least you are competitive, here we were not competitive.
“Here the surface is completely different. The tyres play an even bigger role. And normally, our car in the very high-speed corners is quite a bit more stable. But here, there are a lot more other factors that come into play.”
What then of Jeddah this weekend?
“The layout will probably help a bit, because in general, there’s just a bit less deg,” said Verstappen. “But when you’re worse on tyres, you are worse on it everywhere…”
Adam Cooper F1 