FORMULA 1 GULF AIR BAHRAIN GRAND PRIX 2025 - Sakhir......Race................ ▄▀▄▀▄▀ SPOILERS ▄▀▄▀▄▀

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RedBull issues for the weekend: https://www.the-race.com/formula-1/why-red-bulls-troubled-f1-car-is-more-exposed-in-bahrain/
Why Red Bull's troubled F1 car is more exposed in Bahrain
Apr 13, 2025
by Edd Straw, Samarth Kanal

Max Verstappen could only muster a distant seventh in qualifying for the Bahrain Grand Prix, only a week after putting Red Bull's 2025 Formula 1 car on pole position in Japan. So what changed?

The reigning F1 world champion has a simple answer to that. There was nothing fundamentally different about the car, he said, the drop-off in performance instead reflects the different environment with high temperatures, abrasive track surface and configuration in Bahrain making life more difficult for both Red Bull drivers by amplifying the weaknesses Verstappen mitigated spectacularly in Japan. The deficit of almost six tenths of a second to pole position is testament to that.

"In Japan it wasn't good as well," said Verstappen when asked why the car seemed so different compared with how it was at Suzuka. "But here you just get punished a bit harder when you have big balance issues because the Tarmac is so aggressive.
"The wind is also quite high and the track has quite low grip, so everything is highlighted more."

During Friday practice, Red Bull suffered particularly badly with rear tyre overheating and degradation. As Verstappen pointed out, Sakhir is an abrasive track surface, which combined with high track temperatures and the heavily traction-dependent circuit configuration places a premium on protecting the rear axle. Having struggled with that on Friday, not only on long runs but also on a single lap while conducting set-up experiments across the two cars, Red Bull rightly settled on a set-up that would protect the rear tyres more.

That meant understeer, the logical compromise given this is a race where race pace and tyre management is more important than track position – effectively the inverse of what we saw at Suzuka where Verstappen parked himself in front of the quicker McLarens throughout the race thanks to his outstanding qualifying performance.


The downside of the changes that had to be made in Bahrain was that the car didn't have the front-end responsiveness for Verstappen to work his magic, which exacerbated the braking struggles Red Bull has battled all weekend.

 

so we're looking at another snooze fest?

 

I like this Grip at Start Graphic. Do not recall this. Nice!

 

Charles sandwiched between the McLaren and Mercedes again. Hopefully Max and Lando coming from the back could be exciting.

 

This is so weird!

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They sure made me stop, look, and read it!

 

Oh Ferrari....

 

Forza Ferrari. Let's go Charles!

 

At least its live for us in North America at a reasonable time. Hoping for more than what might be best viewed in a Race in 30

 

Have Ferrari guessed correctly on tires this time?​

 

Leclarc going backwards

 

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Norris being investigated for a false start. Only way Ferrari will advance today is with penalties from the front runners.

 

Will take it…..

 

Nice battle with Carlos

 

Does Ferrari do a 1 stop with Hard tires??

Verstappen is purple on Hards. Only driver running them

 

I think they made a mistake bringing them in.

 

Not So Lovely for MaxBull currently.

 

No, max didn't even fight it