Verstappen reveals why he fears from setback in Bahrain
Despite his brilliant victory at last Sunday's Japanese Grand Prix, reigning world champion Max Verstappen fears that the Bahrain International Circuit will expose the weaknesses of his 2025 Red Bull F1 car.
McLaren looked to be the dominant force across the practice sessions at last weekend's Japanese Grand Prix, but reigning champion Max Verstappen beat Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the all-important qualifying session to take his 41 career pole.
Although Norris and Piastri made a good start in the 53-lap race, the Dutchman maintained the lead, and the two McLarens were unable to put Verstappen under real pressure in the opening stint.
The Woking-based outfit had two cars to attack Verstappen during the sole round of pitstops, but Verstappen and Red Bull were perfect. Piastri pitted first but the undercut was not potent, so he found himself still behind Norris after the only stops.
The British driver had half a chance of grabbing the lead in those pit stops, nearly side by side with Verstappen in the pit lane and having to run across the grass as the Dutchman refused to yield. Verstappen then looked in complete control, and did not make any mistakes on his way to his fourth straight win at Suzuka.
Reflecting on his brilliant win in Japan, Verstappen said that it was an important moment for his team and for engine partner Honda just month before their partnership come to a close.
"To win in Japan was an amazing moment for the Team and a perfect send off for Honda, who we have had such a great relationship and a lot of success with over the years.
"It is amazing to have four wins in a row there and was a great start to the triple header. It was a good boost for the Team and now we can hopefully go into this week with a bit more confidence. Bahrain is typically somewhere where we have gone well; the track is very technical and of course it is under night race conditions which is a bit different.
As for the upcoming Manama track, the Dutchman noted: "It is going to be hot and think it will be tough race for us. There are still things to improve on the car: we are still working on our tyre management and lacking some pace so we will just need to work hard and constantly push the car to the limit.
"However, I do always enjoy going there so looking forward to seeing what this week brings and hopefully we can maximise the performance of the car as best we can."
Verstappen was joined by a new team-mate at Suzuka, with Yuki Tsunoda replacing Liam Lawson at Red Bull. The Japanese driver displayed encouraging performance at the start of the weekend, but a suboptimal warm-up lap in Q2 led to an early elimination.
Speaking ahead of the Sakhir round, Tsunoda insists that he is eager to fully focus of racing and the adaptation to his car following an action-packed home Grand Prix.
"I am looking forward to being in Bahrain this weekend and having time to fully focus on racing with my Team. Japan was a crazy week, the whole build up was very busy and the week itself too. I loved having my home race but I am equally excited to have a quieter week in Bahrain to get to grip with this car properly, really work with my Team and settle into life with Oracle Red Bull Racing.
"I learnt so much across the weekend in Suzuka, I understand the RB21 so much better now and also how the Team operate in different ways to what I have been used to. It’s down to me to apply that now and make sure I can perform and get the most from this car.
"Bahrain is a track we all know very well and will be totally different conditions to Japan, so I need to get up to speed quickly and ensure qualifying goes well this week. I think if I can understand our tyre prep better then I can put the car in a better place for race day and hopefully score the points and performance I know we are capable of."
