Verstappen: I’m not fighting for 2025 F1 title, just “taking part”

A deflated Max Verstappen says Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying shows he’s just “taking part” in this year’s Formula 1 world championship rather than fighting for the title.

Verstappen finished a lowly seventh in Bahrain qualifying after having already scraped through to Q3 alongside team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, with the Dutchman complaining about a lack of grip and brake issues with his Red Bull RB21 car.

It’s the result the four-time world champion had already been fearing after warning on Friday that Red Bull was nowhere near McLaren’s pace, with Verstappen eventually shipping 0.582s to polesitter Oscar Piastri.

Speaking to Dutch media after the session, including Motorsport.com, Verstappen sounded pessimistic over his world title chances, just one week after taking a stunning pole-to-flag win in Japan.

“McLaren are not my rivals right now. I am just taking part in this world championship,” Verstappen said. When pressed by Motorsport.com on whether he meant he didn’t see himself competing for the actual title, he replied: “No, I don’t.”

At Japan’s low-degradation Suzuka circuit, Verstappen managed to take pole with a magical qualifying lap, while the McLarens slipped up, and was then in a position to control the race. But on the high-degradation, high-temperature Sakhir track, the four-time world champion feels there is no place for Red Bull to hide its shortcomings.

“If you look at the gap to McLaren I’m not surprised,” he explained. “I already told the team during the winter test here that the gap is half a second, and that proves to be the case, so I was right in that respect. If you look at the entire season, I don’t think we ever really had a chance.

“If others make mistakes, like in Suzuka qualifying, then we can be ahead. In Suzuka passing was impossible, but that’s not always the case.”

As in Japan, Red Bull turned its car upside down overnight to find more performance, but Verstappen doesn’t feel there is anything else the squad could have done to be higher on the grid: “We have tried everything we could on the car and nothing works, so that’s not the issue. If I had to do qualifying again, then I have no idea what else we could have changed. We tried everything that makes sense at this track.”

Offering his thoughts on moving up in the race, Verstappen said: “Lando [Norris] normally just drives to the front, with the speed they have. Of course, there’s an Alpine [of Pierre Gasly] that could drop back, but other than that it will be tough to move up because our pace is all similar. I will do my best, but I don’t know if it’ll be enough for a podium or sixth.”

Photos from Bahrain GP – Practice & Qualifying