The Bahrain Grand Prix had plenty of drama, but Formula 1 TV directors managed to miss Max Verstappen’s last-lap overtake on Pierre Gasly for sixth.
A battle that had been brewing throughout the second half of the race saw the Red Bull slowly approach the back of the Alpine.
Verstappen made the move at turn four on the final lap, steaming around the outside of Gasly after getting a great exit out of turn two.
It was two vital extra points in the drivers’ championship for the reigning champion, who faces an uphill battle to defend his title in 2025.
After a poor start to the season, Verstappen is frustrated with a Red Bull issue that could have been avoided. They didn’t listen to him soon enough about the RB21.
If current form continues, Red Bull could struggle to stop Verstappen from leaving them ahead of the start of the 2026 F1 regulations.
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Pierre Gasly’s ‘frustrating’ unheard radio message after Max Verstappen battle at the Bahrain Grand Prix
Gasly spent the last 20 laps of the race on harder tyres, fending off the charge of Verstappen in what is meant to be a slower car.
Speaking over team radio after his race, he vented his frustrations to his race engineer after what had been a valiant defence of his position.
“Frustrating. All this fighting to lose the position on the last lap,” he said on the cooldown lap.
Gasly’s magnificent Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying had earned him the right to compete at the front on Sunday, and he capitalised to earn his team their first points of the campaign in round four.
With 20 more rounds of the Formula 1 season to go, the two drivers may come across each other on a few more occasions if Red Bull’s struggles continue.
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 would have been fuming with ‘seriously wrong’ Bahrain Grand Prix situation
Heading into the season, Verstappen had high hopes of matching Michael Schumacher’s record of five consecutive titles.
After round four, little of that hope may remain, after he spent the majority of his race in Bahrain battling a car which was the slowest on the grid this time last year.
Verstappen would have been fuming in Bahrain that he was having to fight the Alpine cars. The McLaren drivers are the only ones he wants to be dicing with.
As the sport returns to Europe next month, upgrades should start to roll in, and Red Bull will hope that they are able to extract more performance from their car.
If not, they might want to begin plotting a replacement for Verstappen, who is bound to be keen to move if he doesn’t have the necessary machinery to compete.
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