Max Verstappen and Helmut Marko now fundamentally ‘don’t agree’ on Red Bull’s biggest issue, ‘just bad…’

Red Bull Racing are clinging onto the hope that Max Verstappen can use every ounce of his natural talent to become a five-time world champion this season.

The constructors’ championship paints a worrying picture for Red Bull.

After three race weekends, McLaren already have a 50-point lead over Christian Horner’s team, but more concerningly, Max Verstappen has scored every single one of their points this year.

It means the Dutchman is only a point behind championship leader Lando Norris, but with the input of Helmut Marko, Red Bull decided to swap Liam Lawson and Yuki Tsunoda after just two Grand Prix.

Tsunoda became the first Red Bull number two driver to reach Q3 at the Bahrain Grand Prix, but starts Sunday’s race on the cusp of falling out of the points-paying positions.

It’s clear from what Verstappen, Tsunoda and Lawson have said about Red Bull’s car that the work the team did over the winter break hasn’t made the car more drivable.

More worryingly, there doesn’t appear to be a consensus within the team as to what’s going wrong.

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Max Verstappen and Helmut Marko disagree over Red Bull’s 2025 F1 car issues

A report from Motorsport NL has provided more details about how Verstappen and Marko see Red Bull’s problems after a worrying qualifying session in Bahrain.

The Dutchman will start the race in P7, with Tsunoda looking to make up places from 10th, with both drivers comfortably beaten by Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.

Asked about the session by the Dutch media, Verstappen said: “If you look at the gap to McLaren, I am not surprised, no.

“I already said that to the team during winter testing. I said ‘the gap is half a second’ and that is what it has now proven to be. So in that respect, I was right.

“If you look at the entire season, I don’t think we really had a chance. If others make mistakes, like during that qualifying in Suzuka, then you are ahead.

“Sunday was a bit cooler, and then you have less tire degradation, and in Suzuka, you can’t overtake, that has been proven. But that is not always the case.”

However, Marko said after the session that Red Bull faced a ‘huge problem’ and pointed towards set-up changes that didn’t work as expected for Verstappen.

When this was put to the Dutchman, he explained: “We have tried everything on the car and nothing works, so that is not the problem.

“If I had to do qualifying again now, I would not know what we should change. We have tried everything, everything that makes sense on this circuit.”

Marko argued after practice on Friday that Red Bull were suffering from high tyre wear, but that the Pirelli tyres returned to a good condition after a few laps.

Again, Verstappen wasn’t following Marko’s thinking and said: “I don’t agree with that.

“I think we’re generally just bad over one lap and also bad in the races – especially compared to McLaren.

“Compared to Ferrari and Mercedes, we may have a bit more chance, but yesterday it wasn’t nice in the long run either.”

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Red Bull fans unhappy with Christian Horner over Max Verstappen concerns

Ultimately, the responsibility for how the car performs comes down to team principal Horner.

Red Bull fans were upset with Horner’s comments after qualifying, where he suggested that both drivers had made progress despite their disappointing starting positions for Sunday’s race.

Losing the likes of Adrian Newey and Jonathan Wheatley has weakened Red Bull’s position, even if Horner is confident in the capabilities of their replacements.

It’s worrying that Verstappen and Marko see Red Bull problems originating from different areas.

However, Red Bull have hope that things will improve this season, with update packages coming and a change in the wing flexibility rules from the Spanish Grand Prix.

Verstappen has to hope that the McLaren drivers aren’t out of reach by that point, otherwise his hopes of matching Michael Schumacher’s consecutive championships record will be over.