Verstappen not happy: "It was a difficult race anyway"

Max Verstappen is not happy with how the Bahrain Grand Prix went for Red Bull Racing. It was anything but a trouble-free day, as the 24-year-old driver complains about the set-up, brakes, steering, strategy and engine. In short: plenty of homework for the Austrian racing stable.

"It was a difficult race, anyway," Verstappen tells Viaplay."I didn't have the balance that I had on Friday and it was very difficult for me to control degradation from front to back. Every time I had too many problems at the back and I wanted to correct it, it went to the front. There was just no balance in the car."

Verstappen not happy with strategy

So the RB18's setup was not optimal, but that was not the only reason things went wrong for Verstappen Sunday afternoon. "Whenever I wanted to push a bit, the brakes got too hot and I had to lift a bit again. The strategy wasn't quite top-notch either. We have to look at that as well. I could have taken the lead twice, but because they tell me to drive that first lap gently, I don't take the lead. Next time I'll rely more on my feeling," he is critical towards his own team.

In the end, the reigning world champion seemed to be able to take home eighteen points, but then problems with the steering wheel followed. "After that you think a second place is not wrong, but after that pit stop there was something wrong with the steering. Normally you can steer very smoothly, but it was stuck every time and I had to put in a lot of force to get a little movement. At one point I couldn't even correct oversteer anymore. It was shit stability. It was almost impossible to drive."

Issue with fuel pump

Verstappen was reassured that the problem would not affect reliability, but ultimately there was an issue with the fuel supply. "In doing so, it seemed like there was no fuel coming to the engine. Because of that, the engine stalled and then it was done. It seems to be something with the fuel pump. It could be something very small, but on little things like that you can lose a championship, because these are very expensive points," concluded the Limburger.