Struggling with “terrible” brakes as he qualified P7 in Bahrain, Helmut Marko says Red Bull will speak with the FIA about what they are permitted to change with Max Verstappen’s brakes to avoid a pit lane start.

On a weekend in which McLaren’s MCL39 was labelled “on another planet” by rivals, the Woking team set the pace in every single session while reigning World Champion Verstappen struggled.

Red Bull: It was worse than expected…

The Dutchman appeared to have made inroads at the start of Saturday’s qualifying as he finished Q1 with the third fastest time, but by the end of Q3, he was down in seventh place and almost six-tenths slower than pole-sitter Oscar Piastri.

A brake issue didn’t help his cause.

“My brakes are just terrible, I can’t brake at all,” he told Red Bull over the radio. “It’s just so bad.”

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So bad that Red Bull believe they’ll need to make some changes in the build-up to the Grand Prix, with Marko revealing they’re off to the FIA to get clarity of what exactly they can change without breaking parc ferme regulations.

All 20 cars are placed under parc ferme conditions after qualifying, meaning changes to the setup, including aerodynamics, suspension, or engine maps, are prohibited. Teams though, are allowed to change damaged parts with Marko hoping that whatever is wrong with Verstappen’s RB21’s brakes falls into the latter category.

He told Sky Deutschland: “First of all, we have to find out what the cause is. After that, we have to clarify with the FIA whether it is allowed to change the brake pads, for example.

“But first we have to find what the problem is.”

“It was worse than expected because we changed a few things on the car which we thought would be an improvement, then all of a sudden we had this brake problem,” Marko told reporters in the paddock.

“It was a massive problem, they could see it on the data, but we don’t know where it came from.”

Verstappen lines up one place behind his championship rival Lando Norris, who had a disappointing Q3 as he finished four-tenths down on his McLaren team-mate.

Marko is foreseeing a trying afternoon for Verstappen around the Sakhir circuit.

“It will certainly be difficult,” he said. “But we would never have expected the circumstances of a Norris standing next to him. Or Gasly in front of us. The Mercedes are very, very fast.

“It’s going to be an interesting race.”

As for Verstappen, the Dutchman quizzed about his car issues after qualifying but opted not to say it quite as he would’ve wanted to in order to avoid an FIA penalty.

“I can’t say on TV how I feel in the car,” he said.

“We’ve been struggling with balance all weekend, we’ve changed things, but nothing has actually worked. That’s a huge problem. We also had problems with the brakes. Understeer, oversteer, no grip with the tyres. It’s very difficult to build a setup.”

He added: “When you have as many problems over a lap as we do, it’s not positive for the race on a track like here in Bahrain. I have no idea what will happen [in the race].”

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