Apr.14 (GMM) As Red Bull’s performance situation worsens in unison with Max Verstappen’s mood, speculation is re-firing that the team could be set to lose its star driver.
While the corks were popping at McLaren, as Sunday in Bahrain established Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri at 1-2 in the drivers’ standings, an emergency meeting was already taking place at Red Bull.
Multiple reports say Christian Horner, Dr Helmut Marko, Pierre Wache and Paul Monaghan were in frenzied talks about a dire night under the floodlights. A little later, Marko was seen in a heated exchange with Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen.
The quadruple world champion himself, though, had no intention to engage.
“Not at the moment,” Verstappen said when told by Viaplay that he has a lot to discuss with his team. “You go. I don’t feel like it.”
He insisted that struggling to finish any higher than P6 came as no surprise to him on a high-degradation circuit like Bahrain. “I already warned about it during the winter test here,” said the 27-year-old Dutchman.
“I told my team ‘Watch out, the gap is half a second’ and that has now proven true. So in that respect I was right.”
After a similarly-bad Saturday at Sakhir, team boss Horner did not even speak with the media as per usual.
“Our car is simply not balanced,” team advisor Marko said late on Sunday. “And we don’t know what the problem is. I suspect it’s mainly an aerodynamic problem.”
In the past-race emergency meeting, it is believed Red Bull decided to make immediate changes – including how the team approaches Fridays at grands prix.
“We need to question our approach,” Marko admitted. “For example, we must have a better practice program, and that we use the engine more to understand where we stand.
“We have very good people, but they have to look within themselves, and everyone has to be open and honest. We know that the car isn’t competitive. But why is that?”
For Verstappen, who in Bahrain wrote off his chances of winning a fifth consecutive title, Marko does not have good news. “In the short term, there’s nothing we can do technically.
“At least when we’re in Europe, there should hopefully be progress. But with a performance like this, we won’t be able to defend our world championship title. And that’s not good because we risk losing Max Verstappen.”
It is believed that if Verstappen drops out of the top three points standings, an exit clause will be triggered.
Marko is not hiding that he is worried.
“The concern is huge,” said the Austrian. “There must be improvements that will allow him to win. We are very concerned and there are things going on at the moment.”
It’s not clear what things are ‘going on’, but Sky Deutschland on Sunday asked Mercedes boss Toto Wolff if he is getting increasingly excited at the prospect of perhaps signing up Verstappen for 2026.
“We’re keeping both feet on the ground,” Wolff responded. “We’re happy with the way things are.”
The problem for Wolff is that George Russell – whose contract is up for renewal – is riding a crest of consistently good form at present. Ralf Schumacher, however, is convinced.
“I think the game is over,” said the former F1 driver. “The only hope is that there’s a Red Bull in Imola that suddenly competes for wins. But in Verstappen’s position, it’s logical that he wants to compete for wins.
“He has the opportunity to choose the best car in the paddock, and Red Bull is obviously not that.”
But with the Verstappen exit rumours set to heat up further, Red Bull may need to consider drastic moves – like shuffling prominent names out of their current positions.
“That’s not a question that arises right now,” Marko insists.
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