Red Bull lucky that Verstappen bit his tongue after a very frustrating weekend claims pundit

Dutch F1 pundit Erik Van Haren has claimed that Red Bull were lucky that their ace Max Verstappen bit his tongue after a disastrous outing at the Bahrain Grand Prix for the Austrian team. Tensions between the driver and his team are reportedly bubbling over after a disappointing race weekend.

In a piece for Dutch outlet De Telegraaf, Erik Van Haren highlighted that the biggest red flag for Red Bull at the Bahrain GP was that they suffered from numerous issues throughout the weekend. This included problems with the car balance, understeer, brakes, overheating tires, and two slow pit stops on Sunday, to push the team over the edge.

Van Haren also claimed that Red Bull were 'lucky' that their driver minced his words after the Bahrain GP because if he had mentioned how he truly felt, the words would have been justified and harsh.

"And then the team led by Christian Horner is lucky that Verstappen bit his tongue after a very frustrating weekend. Because if he had really expressed how he felt, the critical notes would not have been out of the blue." wrote Van Haren. [translated via Safari]

Another excerpt from Van Haren's article even read:

"Cynicism dripped from [Verstappen's words after the race]. Verstappen was about to explode, but held out."

Max Verstappen explained that simply nothing went right for him and his Red Bull team during the race on Sunday, but did not directly criticize his team at any point. The 27-year-old simply mentioned that he and the team have to work to fix the situation and shared that he hopes the car 'improves soon.'

Verstappen's manager, Raymond Vermeulen, was also reportedly spotted having an argument with Helmut Marko after the race on Sunday, suggesting that all may not be well within the Milton Keynes-based team.

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Red Bull boss Christian Horner has his say after disastrous Bahrain GP

Max Verstappen and Christian Horner at the Japanese Grand Prix - Source: Getty

Red Bull team boss Christian Horner mentioned that it was a poor overall weekend for the team in Bahrain, as he analyzed the shortcomings after the race on Sunday. The Briton also shared his feelings that Verstappen's drivers' title ambitions are not in jeopardy yet as the season is 24 races long.

Horner was firstly asked about Verstappen's claims after the race that the Dutchman was not currently in a title fight due to the car deficit he has to the McLarens. The team boss responded by saying:

"It's a 24-race championship. We're eight points behind in the drivers' championship. We know we need to make progress very quickly. So it was important to score points, he fought for every point that he could in a difficult car. It's how they add up at the end of the year that's important.” (via racingnews365)

Speaking about the weekend as a whole, Horner added:

"It was a bad weekend for the team, nothing went our way from the start of the start of the race. The start, we didn't get off the line cleanly and the pit stops didn't work well for us. The tyre degradation, temperatures got very high."

Max Verstappen has slipped down to third in the drivers' standings after his P6 finish on Sunday, as race-winner Oscar Piastri overtakes the Dutchman after bagging 25 points. Lando Norris now has a three point lead as a result, and his advantage over Verstappen has grown slightly to eight points.