Alpine drops 2-word post at Red Bull hinting at the nail-biting Max Verstappen-Pierre Gasly battle in the F1 Bahrain GP

Max Verstappen had qualified a subpar P7 for the Bahrain Grand Prix behind championship rival Lando Norris and Alpine's Pierre Gasly. While he was unable to leapfrog the McLaren driver, he made a daring move on the Frenchman to bag in P6, leading Alpine's social media admin to write a two-word verdict on the battle between the two former teammates.

The Dutchman had a rollercoaster of a race at the Bahrain Grand Prix, filled with overtakes left, right, and center. This was somewhat due to a pit stop crisis that he had to deal with mid-race, plunging him down to 20th at one point, but his last overtake helped him snatch P6 away from Gasly.

Max Verstappen had been stuck behind the Alpine driver for 19 laps but had to move past him to bag a few more points for the championship battle. While Pierre Gasly put up a stern defense, heading into turn four on the last lap, Verstappen had the edge on him and completed the move even before the start of the corner.

Sharing how the battle between the two former teammates was a great one, with both the drivers following racing etiquette, Alpine's social media admin wrote on Threads:

"Good racing @redbullracing 😌⚔️"

Post by @alpinef1team

View on Threads

While Gasly's P7 finish was a strong result for the Enstone-based outfit to get them on the points board, the same happiness did not reflect in the Red Bull garage.

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Max Verstappen was unhappy after the Bahrain Grand Prix

Red Bull's Max Verstappen at the F1 Grand Prix of Bahrain - Source: Getty

After winning the Japanese Grand Prix, the Austrian giant seemingly lost the understanding of the RB21 that it had developed over the past few weekends. This was reflected in Max Verstappen's onboard footage, where the Dutchman was often battling the Red Bull.

Unhappy with his outing at the Bahrain Grand Prix, Verstappen said (via Formula 1):

"Basically everything went wrong! We had a poor start, too much wheelspin when I dropped the clutch, and then the first stint again [I had] basically the same problems that I had in Qualifying... Then [at] the first stop I think the lights got stuck on, but of course I don’t want to drive through the lights – you want to stay and stick to the protocol of the team – so that put me into traffic as well."

"And, yeah, considering everything, to be honest to finish P6 is then alright. I mean, more than that was anyway not possible even with good pit stops or other tyres selected, realistically. You have to hang on, try to improve the situation, but it was just a bit stuck at the moment and hopefully we can improve soon,” he added.

Max Verstappen's P6 finish demoted him down to third in the championship standings as Oscar Piastri bagged the win around the fabled circuit. The 27-year-old now stands eight points adrift of the championship lead, with Piastri acting as a buffer between him and Lando Norris.