Pink Bull’s Helmut Marko has described the group’s efficiency on the Bahrain Grand Prix as “very alarming” after Max Verstappen’s supervisor vented his anger post-race.
Verstappen salvaged sixth place when it appeared like he would rating lower than a handful of factors, overcoming pitstop points and dealing with issues all through the race.
The Dutchman continues to be solely eight factors behind championship chief Lando Norris and 5 adrift of race-winner Oscar Piastri.
Nonetheless, his supervisor Raymond Vermeulen was seen shouting at Marko within the storage, whereas group principal Christian Horner, technical director Pierre Wache, chief engineer Paul Monaghan and Marko additionally held talks within the paddock.
“Very alarming. We know that we are not competitive, and there will be parts coming in the coming races, and hopefully they bring improvement,” mentioned Marko.
“We have a lot of problems. The main problem is balance and grip, and out of this, I guess the problems with the brakes came up. Then the normal procedure like a pitstop is not working, so one [problem] comes after the other.”
He added: “We have to get, as soon as possible, performance in the car again and also standards like a pitstop have to work. The car is not the fastest and then the pitstops are not working. That is not acceptable.”
Horner: Unhealthy weekend for the group
Verstappen’s excellent win in Suzuka gave Pink Bull hope however Bahrain advised that victory might be a one-off earlier than F1 will get to the European races in Could.
The sluggish Pink Bull pitstops in Bahrain, when the inexperienced gentle which tells the drivers to go away the pit field didn’t work, had been doubtless attributable to {an electrical} failure.
It put Verstappen out in site visitors however he additionally had little tempo on the arduous tyres and, at one level, discovered himself working in final.
Yuki Tsunoda completed simply three locations behind Verstappen in ninth and had related dealing with points to the reigning world champion.
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Bahrain Grand Prix highlights
“It was a bad weekend for the team. Nothing went our way from the start of the race,” mentioned Horner.
“We didn’t get off the line cleanly and the pitstops didn’t work well for us and the tyre temperatures got very high. If you’ve got a well-balanced car, the whole thing just comes together that much easier.
“Nevertheless it’s a 24-race championship. We’re eight factors behind within the Drivers’ Championship and we all know we have to make progress in a short time.
“So it was important to score the most points he [Verstappen] could in a difficult car. It’s how they add up at the end of the year that’s important.”
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Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda had been left pissed off after dropping priceless seconds within the pit lane
Verstappen: Unhealthy tyre administration will imply we’re weak all over the place
Pink Bull are already 80 factors behind McLaren within the Constructors’ Championship after 4 rounds and Horner has admitted focus shall be on giving Verstappen one of the best likelihood attainable within the Drivers’ Championship.
Verstappen says he couldn’t have completed increased than sixth in Bahrain and doesn’t count on Pink Bull to abruptly be again on the entrance this weekend in Saudi Arabia, the place he was dominant 12 months in the past.
“We are bad on tyre management at the moment. The balance is not where I wanted it to be and on a track like this it all gets highlighted, that’s for sure,” he informed Sky Sports activities F1.
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Sky F1’s Ted Kravitz displays on all the large speaking factors from the Bahrain Grand Prix
“The tyre degradation will be a bit lower in general [in Jeddah] but if you are poor on tyres, you are poor everywhere with management. Of course, there it’s probably a little bit less but it’s still going to be weaker than our competitors, so you just have to take that into consideration.
“No less than perhaps the format will assist just a little bit however tyre administration stays the identical. In case you are weak on it, you might be weak on it all over the place.”
Formula 1 completes its first triple-header of 2025 in Jeddah with the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix this weekend, live on Sky Sports F1. Stream Sky Sports activities with NOW – no contract, cancel anytime
