Unhappy Max Verstappen bemoans ‘massive’ gap to McLaren

Max Verstappen has admitted the gap to F1 rivals McLaren is “massive” after Friday practice at the Bahrain Grand Prix.

Following his stunning and unlikely victory at last weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Verstappen was only seventh-fastest in second practice in Bahrain, some 0.825s behind Oscar Piastri.

McLaren dominated Friday practice at Sakhir, with Lando Norris topping the less representative FP1 before Piastri headed a dominant 1-2 in the evening session, which took place in the same conditions as qualifying and Sunday’s grand prix will.

Verstappen was heard complaining about brake issues throughout FP2 and already seems to be doubting Red Bull’s chances of challenging for another win in Bahrain.

“Get to grips with the car? Good one! I had no grip,” the four-time world champion said at the end of Friday.

“It was just difficult. Of course took a few laps to get into it but the gap was quite massive so not entirely happy. Just struggling a lot with grip and feeling in general.

“The balance wasn’t too bad, just off. Quite a bit of work to do also in the long run. We’re just too slow basically, every lap. Honestly it was not a lot of fun out there in the long runs.

“A bit of drift practice at the end there as well.”

Asked what he makes of the gap to McLaren, Verstappen replied: "It's big. We did a bit of a different approach to our Friday so I think this gap is very big.”

Verstappen closed to within a point of championship leader Norris after his fourth straight win at Suzuka.

Yuki Tsunoda rues “messy” Friday

Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Yuki Tsunoda was only 18th in FP2 ahead of his second race for the team following his promotion.

Following a “messy” Friday, Tsunoda hopes to find time overnight to avoid a repeat of his early qualifying exit in Japan.

“The potential, it’s hard to tell,” he said.

“It’s a different set-up between us. I know inside my feeling of the potential but it’s just hard to extract it.

“From the operational side, warm-up, switches, everything was pretty messy overall today. We just have to avoid this situation in future.

“Maybe me and Woody [Richard Wood, race engineer] need to go out tonight and build the relationship more.”