'Everything went wrong': Red Bull team blunders pull Max Verstappen further down the driver standings
Max Verstappen had a race to forget in Bahrain, fighting with a host of problems over the weekend including delayed pit stops and overheating tyres which left the four-time world champion to crawl home in sixth place.
Where Oscar Piastri saw himself flying to victory in Bahrain, last week's victor found himself well off the pace, finishing nearly 30 seconds off the Australian.
The Red Bull driver could only make up one place from his qualifying position of seventh, also spending a stint midway through the race in P20 due to a huge pit stop blunder from his team.
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"Basically everything went wrong," said Verstappen after the race.
"We had a poor start, too much wheelspin... and then the first stint again [I had] basically the same problems that I had in Qualifying, plus we were just overheating our tyres too much compared to the competition ahead of us.
Max Verstappen finished in sixth in the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain at Bahrain International Circuit. Getty
"Then [at] the first stop I think the lights got stuck on, but of course I don't want to drive through the lights – you want to stay and stick to the protocol of the team – so that put me into traffic as well, then the hard tyres unfortunately didn't work so I was sliding around even more than I was on the soft.
"Then we boxed again, [which was an] even worse pit stop, so then I was last.
"Considering everything, to be honest to finish P6 is then all right. I mean, more than that was anyway not possible even with good pit stops or other tyres selected, realistically."
Verstappen found himself delayed during both pit stops due to a technical issue with the lights which indicate when to leave his Red Bull pit box.
Complaining of tyre wear, brake problems and overheating, the Dutchman was unable to put up a fight, rather losing valuable positions in the opening stages of the race and falling behind 18-year-old rookie Kimi Antonelli and Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton.
Verstappen leaves Bahrain third in the drivers standings, being overtaken by Piastri while his Red Bull team held a crisis meeting to lament their woes in Bahrain.
Team principal Christian Horner and key Red Bull personnel had an emergency meeting after Bahrain's race. Getty
Key management at the impromptu meeting discussed the next steps of the team to improve their season, with senior advisors such as Christian Horner and Helmut Marko in attendance.
Also after the race, Sky Sport pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz alleged that he saw Verstappen's manager Raymond Vermeulen approach and yell at Marko in the garage, giving the advisor a "piece of his mind" about the uncompetitive weekend.
This will likely spark questions about Verstappen's loyalty to the Milton Keynes-based team, asking will the Dutchman stay at Red Bull or jump ship.
Although it was Verstappen's worst result of the 2025 season, his teammate Yuki Tsunoda collected a ninth place finish, calling the race "another learning curve".
The team did break their streak of only one car collecting points during a weekend, with both cars finishing in the top 10 for the first time since Las Vegas last year.
That was “at least a positive result considering all the things that went wrong today", said Verstappen.
