Max Verstappen and Christian Horner have conceded Red Bull has a huge deficit to McLaren at the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix.
]After a surprise win last time out at Suzuka, Verstappen and Red Bull were served a reality check at the Bahrain International Circuit on Friday evening.
Verstappen’s best effort in FP2, a precursor of what’s likely to come in Saturday night’s qualifying session, was over eight-tenths down on Oscar Piastri’s benchmark in the McLaren MCL39.
Despite Lando Norris downplaying McLaren’s advantage, Red Bull has an almost insurmountable challenge to fight for victory this weekend.
“The gap was quite massive, so [I’m] not entirely happy,” Verstappen said.
“[I was] just struggling a lot with grip, feeling in general.
“The balance wasn’t too bad but just, yeah, off, and quite a bit of work to do also in the long run.
“We’re just too slow basically every lap, and it was honestly not a lot of fun out there in the long run.”
Horner, in conversation with Dutch broadcaster Viaplay, was also downbeat following Friday’s results.
“We’ve got quite a bit to do tonight, I think,” he said.
“The McLarens look very, very quick. With Mercedes and Ferrari it all looks pretty close, but McLaren definitely look like they have a few tenths on the rest of the field.
“First of all, we’ve got to understand how we can improve what we have, which is mainly temperature-related, I think.”
Max Verstappen Red Bull victory ‘impossible’ in Bahrain
With Bahrain offering up multiple overtaking avenues and an abrasive circuit making way for high degradation, it’s out of the question for Verstappen to repeat his defensive victory drive from Japan last time out.
“It is impossible to repeat what he did last week over a single lap and then holding the cars behind for an entire grand prix,” Horner said.
“This is a track you can overtake at relatively easily, so a lot of work to do with the engineers tonight.”
Verstappen revealed, “We did a bit of a different approach to our Friday, so I think this gap is very big,” when probed on the margin to McLaren, alluding to a difference in engine modes.
Norris, too, added, “Everyone just looks at the timesheets, they have no idea about the information on who turns up, who doesn’t…”
Still, Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko pointed out to Autosport, “We are too slow and the tyres are becoming far too hot.
“It’s basically confirming what Max already said yesterday, that Bahrain will be a more difficult one for Red Bull,” Marko continued.
“This track just doesn’t suit us, and neither do these high temperatures.”
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