After a difficult Bahrain Grand Prix saw Max Verstappen have to content himself with a sixth-place finish, rumours swirled about the state of play at Red Bull.

After the race, Sky Sports pundit Ted Kravitz claimed he spotted Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen and Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko in the throes of a bust-up — but Verstappen has denied that’s the case.

What happened with Max Verstappen’s manager in Bahrain?

Red Bull Racing has been having a rough go of it this season. The drivers of its RB21 report issues with everything from balance to brakes to tyre degradation, and in Bahrain, those flaws were made all the more obvious thanks to the nature of the track.

Add to that faltering pit equipment that delayed both of Max Verstappen’s stops on race day, and you have a recipe for one frustrated reigning World Champion.

It was such a challenging weekend that it allegedly inspired a stern conversation between Max Verstappen’s manager, Raymond Vermeulen, and Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko.

After the race, Ted Kravitz of Sky Sports stated that he saw Vermeuelen giving “a piece of his mind” to Marko before storming off. He doubled down on that statement in Sky Sports’ The F1 Show, though PlanetF1.com understands no bust-up took place.

Get ready for the Saudi Arabian GP:

👉 Uncovered: Technical details on display in the Saudi Arabian GP pitlane

👉 Our bold predictions for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Verstappen was asked about the confrontation during the press conference ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where he also denied any allegations that what Kravitz saw was anything more than a conversation.

“I think, to my knowledge, they were having just a conversation about everything, which I think is allowed,” the Dutch champion responded in dry style.

“Now, if someone of course picks up on it, people can always see it in their own way, right? How people are discussing things.

“But I think we were all left frustrated with the result, and of course, the things that went wrong in the race.

“I think that’s where my manager Raymond and Helmut spoke about and even Christian came along as well. They all had a conversation. I think that should be allowed.

“We all care at the end of the day. We care about the team, we care about the people, we care about the results. I think that’s quite normal.”

While Verstappen noted that the car worked “quite well” in Suzuka, where “I was of course not entirely happy, but it was enough to be competitive,” he feels that the RB21’s “narrow window” needs to be expanded in order to secure better finishing positions on race day.

“We have to try and improve that and just find also a little bit more performance,” he said. “But we are working on it.”

Read next: David Croft told ‘focus on commentating’ after Verstappen exit probe