Is there a rift between Verstappen and Red Bull? 'You have to ask them'

19:58, 13 Apr
Updated: 22:13, 13 Apr
28 Comments

Max Verstappen has reacted to his P6 in Bahrain, once again sounding the alarms at Red Bull as he reveals he's unaware if Red Bull Racing know where the problems with the RB21 lie.

It was a difficult race for Verstappen with several issues hampering his potential result all the way through, from botched pitstops to the technical aspects of the RB21, which the Dutchman outlined to media after the race in the paddock in Bahrain, including GPblog.

"The pace was very bad, but of course I didn't expect the race that I had, because basically everything went wrong, what could go wrong. That probably made it a little bit worse, but I think the position where I finished is at the end of the day the maximum that we could have done," explained Verstappen, who instead of fighting McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari was busy keeping the Haas, Williams and Alpine cars at bay.

The braking performance of his car has been one of the weaknesses the Red Bull driver has pointed to in this year's car. But there's more than that to it. "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."

Is there a rift between F1 champion, Verstappen and Red Bull?

"When you have no balance, no tyre management, or worse tyre management than the others, then on this track it's worse," Verstappen added.

Can Red Bull fix the issues that afflict the RB21? Verstappen has his doubts, revealing the Austrian team are still at a loss with where to look for the problems. "If we know where to find it, yes."

Pressed for further clarification if Red Bull knew where to find the issues, Verstappen then replied: "You have to ask them, I don't know."