Verstappen gets it wrong: 'Race engineers have overview'

Max Verstappen experienced a painful weekend in Bahrain. Not only did the Dutchman have to retire early due to problems with his car, but he also voiced criticism of his team over the radio. Christian Klien, however, thought that this was not entirely justified.

The reigning world champion still made a good impression at the beginning of the race weekend. During the free practice sessions the RB18 performed satisfactorily and proved capable of competing with Ferrari. In qualifying, however, they fell just short of beating Charles Leclerc.

In the race the Italian team was also the strongest. Verstappen was unable to overtake Leclerc and had to be careful that Sainz did not make things too difficult for him. He therefore hoped to place a well-executed undercut, so that he could beat Leclerc based on strategy.

Verstappen, however, complained loudly over the radio and felt that he missed out on first place because of his team. "The driver always has a certain feeling. But Max was unusually excited, even by his standards," judged Klien, who raced for Red Bull Racing for many years, at Servus TV. "However, the race engineers have an overview of how the tyre behaves in the longer term."