Max Verstappen is merely a participant in the F1 2025 World Championship, not a contender to win it.

That is the verdict coming from the Red Bull driver himself, as he prepares to start the Bahrain Grand Prix from down in P7, one spot behind current championship leader Lando Norris who he trails by a single point.

Max Verstappen talks F1 2025 title: Fifth straight crown out of sight?

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

Verstappen pulled off a shock pole in Japan and converted that into victory to boost Red Bull hopes that McLaren could be challenged for the titles, Verstappen chasing his fifth Drivers’ Championship on the trot.

However, the Red Bull spirits were dampened by a bruising Bahrain qualifying, Verstappen managing P7 only on Sunday’s grid, with team-mate Yuki Tsunoda to line-up P10.

While Norris’ McLaren team-mate Oscar Piastri could bring himself right into title contention as he prepares to launch from pole in Bahrain – the Aussie currently 13 points behind Norris – the fact that Norris starts only one place ahead of Verstappen could be seen as a comforting factor for the reigning champion.

But, Verstappen is definitely not seeing it that way.

“McLaren are not my rivals right now,” he is quoted by Motorsport.com.

“I am just taking part in this World Championship.”

Asked if that means he does not consider himself an F1 2025 title contender, Verstappen confirmed: “No, I don’t.”

Come the end of Q3, Verstappen’s deficit to Piastri came in at just under six-tenths, which as it turns out, was in-line with what Verstappen had already warned Red Bull of pre-season.

And Verstappen would argue that his Japanese GP heroics were an example of what Red Bull can do if a rival like McLaren slips up, not a sign that they are in the fight.

“If you look at the gap to McLaren, I’m not surprised,” he said. “I already told the team during the winter test here that the gap is half a second, and that proves to be the case, so I was right in that respect.

“If you look at the entire season, I don’t think we ever really had a chance.

“If others make mistakes, like in Suzuka qualifying, then we can be ahead. In Suzuka passing was impossible, but that’s not always the case.”

Get ready for lights out in Bahrain

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👉 Winners and losers from the 2025 Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying

Shedding further light on his Bahrain qualifying struggles, Verstappen identified the culprits post-session.

“Yeah, just the whole weekend struggling a bit with that, brakes, feeling, and stopping power, and, besides that, also just, yeah, very, very poor grip,” he told the media, including PlanetF1.com, after the qualifying session.

“We tried a lot on the setup, and basically all of it didn’t work. It didn’t give us a clear direction in which to work. So, yeah, just overall, a difficult weekend.”

And looking ahead to his prospects in the race, Verstappen added: “I hope that I can stay a bit with the Mercedes and Ferraris; naturally, I think the McLarens will pull away.

“But yeah, we’ll try our best and see what happens.”

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