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F1 fans were left reeling after Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said that he wasn't in the championship fight with the McLaren duo of Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri. The Dutch driver had a torrid time handling his RB21 around the Sakhir International Circuit this weekend, given his troubles with the brakes.
The four-time F1 world champion, who was coming off of his first victory of the year in Japan last weekend, was unable to wrangle his 2025 challenger in the Top 5 in qualifying and eventually finished P7, just a place behind his title rival Norris.
In his post-qualification interview, Max Verstappen denied being in the driver's standings despite being a point behind Lando Norris (via GPBlog):
"No. They are not my competitors at the moment. I am only participating in the championship."
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However, fans didn't believe Max Verstappen's comments and shared their reactions on X, with one claiming:
"He’s lying through his teeth. His car might stink. but he’s the best driver on the grid. You can never ever rule out Max."
"I think he will change his mind in the middle when car will develop stronger," chimed in another.
"Lies. I have been told he can win the F1 championship in a F3 car. Unless the fans are exaggerating and even the most talented drivers require a good enough car to compete," said one.
Here are some more fan reactions:
"Bro is 1 point behind the leader," mentioned one.
"He’s right, he’s only close to Lando in the world championship standings because Lando is a mediocre driver and because McLaren is a mediocre team with an insanely fast car," claimed another.
"He is not in the championship battle but will accidentally finish no 1 in points in Abu Dhabi somehow," wrote one.
Max Verstappen analyses his qualifying in Bahrain
Red Bull driver Max Verstappen said that his P7 in the qualifying session for the Bahrain GP was the maximum for the RB21 this weekend.
As per F1.com, the 27-year-old reflected on his struggles with the car:
“We did everything we could today but that was the maximum we could get in Qualifying. The whole weekend has been difficult. We struggled with the general balance of the car but also the brakes. With the red flag it was hard to get many clean laps in.
"My final lap was better, and I tried to extract the most out of it, but it was still not good enough compared to the others. There’s been very poor grip, and we’ve played around with the setup, but none of it really worked for us this weekend."
Max Verstappen was in pole at the Bahrain GP in the last two years as he seeks to make it a hat-trick of wins at the track on Sunday, 13 April.
