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The blame for Max Verstappen's slow outlaps during the 2022 F1 Bahrain GP can be laid squarely on the Red Bull team, according to Dr. Helmut Marko.
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The reigning world champion was irate during the first Grand Prix of 2022 when he failed to get the better of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc twice after emerging from the pits. At the time, Max Verstappen admonished his race engineer, Gianpiero Lambiase, saying:
“That is two times I have taken it easy on the outlap and not been in front. I am never, ever doing that again.”
During an interview with motorsport.com, the veteran Austrian discussed the situation by saying:
“Max [Verstappen] was actually told to hold back during his outlaps. If he had driven at a normal pace, he would have been in front of Leclerc. And when you’re in front, it’s a completely different story. But our tire degradation was incredibly higher than Ferrari and the power of the Ferrari engine was very impressive as well. But still, if Max had been in front of Leclerc, maybe the story would have been different.”
Marko is an advisor to the Red Bull team and the person in charge of their world class junior drivers program. He was also the one who gave Verstappen his debut in F1 in 2015.
Max Verstappen didn't have the same pace as Ferrari in Bahrain GP, as per Red Bull boss Christian Horner
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner confessed that his team underestimated the power of the undercut strategy during the 2022 F1 Bahrain GP.
After a disappointing opening race weekend that ended with two DNFs right at the close, Horner shared his thoughts with the media, saying:
“The problem is it’s always a balance, whatever you take out of the tire early in the stint, you lose later in the stint. I think we underestimated the undercut, but I think Ferrari had the pace today that had we got that track position, they would have made the overtake. We just didn’t quite have that pace today.”
Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc engaged in some wheel-to-wheel racing for two whole laps after both drivers had their first pit stops. The Dutchman's patience, however, wore thin and had an impact on his tires after a lock up on the front right left him flat spotted.
