Red Bull in Crisis? Horner Hits Back at Verstappen

Tensions rise at Red Bull after Bahrain blunder. Horner defends team strategy as Verstappen questions car performance and leadership direction.

Following a rocky weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix, a closed-door meeting was held between top team management, triggered by Max Verstappen’s sharp criticism of both the RB21 and Red Bull’s performance. The situation became serious enough for Dr. Helmut Marko to acknowledge that Verstappen’s exit clause could soon be on the table if things don’t improve.

Team principal Christian Horner has pushed back against suggestions that Red Bull is lost. While he admits the weekend was far from smooth, he insists the team fully understands what’s going wrong.

“From the first lap, things just didn’t go to plan,” Horner said.

“We ran into two major problems — braking and car balance. Both of those issues led to higher tire degradation than expected. On top of that, we had a nightmare situation in the pits with a malfunctioning gantry system that disrupted the traffic light signals. Although the stops themselves were clean, electrical issues clearly affected our race.”

Despite the challenges, Horner believes Red Bull salvaged the best possible result.

“Finishing sixth and keeping the gap to Lando manageable — that was as good as it could get under the circumstances. Yuki had a strong weekend too: top ten in qualifying and finishing in the points. Solid drive.”

What exactly happened during the pit stop chaos?

“Max came in for his first stop, but the light didn’t change. At first, we thought a crew member might’ve misclicked the release. But then, during the very next stop — less than a minute later — the same issue happened again. We had to switch to manual override, and the chief mechanics manually released Yuki’s car.”

“It’s clearly an electrical or wiring fault with the pit gantry. I’ve never seen anything like it before. These systems are vital — the drivers rely on those lights. The stops themselves were fast — one even clocked in at just two seconds — but when a driver’s waiting on a red light that won’t go green, you lose time. We’ve quarantined the system and will fully inspect it before Jeddah.”

What about Verstappen’s frustrations?

Horner says the team is taking the feedback seriously and is already hard at work behind the scenes.

“We’re 100% focused on car development, and we hope to bring some updates in the next few races to address these issues,” he said. “This weekend exposed problems we were already aware of, and now we need to act fast.”

“As for Max — yes, we know where the problems are. But putting the right solutions in place takes time. We’ve got a world-class technical team that’s built some of the best F1 cars in recent history. I have no doubt we can turn this around.”

“The focus now is on deep analysis and finding solutions before we’re back on track in Jeddah in five days.”

Red Bull in Crisis? Horner Hits Back at Verstappen
Red Bull in Crisis? Horner Hits Back at Verstappen

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