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Max Verstappen's start to the 2025 Bahrain GP was far from ideal as the Red Bull driver could only manage P7 in the qualifying on Saturday. After such an utterly disappointing outing, Verstappen took to his team radio and shared a four-word remark to sum up his session.
Fresh from his Japanese Grand Prix victory, Verstappen arrived in Bahrain to snatch P1 in the Driver's Standings from Lando Norris. However, the setup of his Red Bull hampered his progress all week long. The Dutchman struggled with the brakes of his RB21 through FP sessions and qualifying.
After a topsy-turvy Q1 and Q2, Verstappen extracted everything from his Red Bull to find time, but he was too little too late, as the Dutch driver ended up in P7. His final flying lap in Q3 was 1:30.423, which was nearly six-tenths slower than pole sitter Oscar Piastri.
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As the qualifying was concluded, Verstappen took to the team radio and said:
"I tried everything there."
Reacting to the statement, his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, said:
"Hard luck mate, that's P7."
Verstappen wrapped up the conversation by saying:
"...okay."
On the right side, Norris' poor qualifying (P6) would take away the pain to some extent, as Verstappen will start just behind his championship rival on Sunday. However, if Piastri goes on to win the Bahrain Grand Prix race, he could be in the race for the 2025 F1 title.
George Russell of Mercedes qualified in P2, ahead of Charles Leclerc and Kimi Antonelli. Pierre Gasly and Norris wrapped up the top six. Carlos Sainz, Lewis Hamilton, and Yuki Tsunoda concluded the Top 10.
Max Verstappen lets his feelings known amid tough outing in Bahrain
Following the conclusion of the Bahrain GP qualifying, Max Verstappen shared his thoughts and stated that he would do his best to extract as many points as possible.
"[The] Whole weekend it was difficult. [Was] struggling on the brake and braking. We are also struggling on the tyres, it doesn't give us a direction to go."
"I don't know. I just try to do my best. Tomorrow I will try to get the most points I can, that's what I do every weekend," Verstappen said (via Junaid Samodien on X)
Max Verstappen didn't participate in the FP1, as Ayumu Iwasa was in charge of his Red Bull. In FP2, the four-time world champion managed P7, followed by P8 in FP3.
