The harsh reality of Max Verstappen’s pursuit of a fifth consecutive drivers’ championship hit Red Bull hard at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit have not developed their car well enough over the winter, and it leaves Verstappen with a mammoth task.
The Dutchman has the fourth-best car on the Formula 1 grid (at best) and needs to wait for Red Bull to bring upgrades before knowing if he can defend his drivers’ championship at all.
With the 2026 F1 regulations fast approaching, failing to improve could see the 27-year-old tempted to switch teams ahead of the new rules.
Red Bull could struggle to stop Verstappen leaving if he really wanted to find a way out after over 10 years together.
Verstappen may have a £206m five-year offer from Aston Martin, which would see him paid in excess of £1 billion.
READ MORE: F1 fans now convinced Max Verstappen wants to ‘get out’ of his Red Bull contract after reading his Bahrain GP comments
Max Verstappen may be out of the 2025 F1 title race after Red Bull’s ‘big crisis’
Even if Red Bull did have a fast car, competing against McLaren who have two drivers at the top of their game provides strategic advantages which would be difficult to overcome.
Verstappen will have been fuming with one situation in Bahrain, as he was forced to compete with the pointless Alpine of Jack Doohan at one stage.
Christian Danner thinks that the four-time champion is unable to solve the team’s woes and that it spells disaster for them.
“In Bahrain, for example, it completely goes wrong, shows that the team sees and hears the problems,” he said.
“Verstappen articulates himself but is unable to solve them because they’ve been tinkering with them for a while and aren’t making any progress. Yes, a real big crisis.”
If Verstappen is truly unable to fix the current situation, then his hopes of another title are effectively gone already. He won’t be able to perform enough of a miracle to win in the current RB21.
READ MORE: Martin Brundle admits he’s ‘quite worried’ for £12m-a-year F1 driver if Max Verstappen decides to leave Red Bull
How much of an advantage does McLaren have over Red Bull in 2025?
Taking a look at the numbers from the Bahrain Grand Prix, which is a fairly standard track, Red Bull have every reason to be worried about their current predicament.
After finishing 34 seconds behind Piastri in a 57-lap race, their best driver lost six-tenths per lap to them, including a mid-race safety car which bunched everyone up.
Without the debris from Carlos Sainz’s Williams forcing a stoppage, the gap may well have been nearly one second per lap.
That’s an absolute age at the end of a set of technical regulations. If they’re to win anything this year, it’ll be down to their driver’s brilliance.
Maybe they have some upgrades which could rectify some issues, but it won’t make up for all of that gap. They’re going to need to maximise every result they can.
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