Red Bull hold ‘crisis meeting’ after Bahrain Grand Prix horror show

Red Bull’s senior F1 management held a ‘crisis meeting’ following a poor Bahrain Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen could only finish sixth in Bahrain, overtaking Alpine’s Pierre Gasly on the final lap.

On the other side of the Red Bull garage, Yuki Tsunoda enjoyed a solid race to come away with his first points with the team in ninth.

It was ultimately a shocking weekend for Red Bull, given that Verstappen struggled to reel in Gasly and Haas’ Esteban Ocon at various stages of the race.

Their lack of pace was compounded by various pit stop issues, which cost Verstappen several seconds.

During the first pit stop, the light system that indicates when a driver can leave their pit box wasn’t working correctly, which also affected Tsunoda.

Another issue occurred during Verstappen’s second pit stop as the Red Bull crew struggled to remove his front-right tyre.

As reported by GP Blog, team principal Christian Horner, Helmut Marko, technical director Pierre Wache and chief engineer Paul Monaghan were seen gathered in the Red Bull hospitality area for a ‘crisis meeting’.

Red Bull display “very alarming” - Marko

While Verstappen remains in title contention - he trails Lando Norris by just eight points - Red Bull’s performance was “very alarming”, according to Marko.

It took Verstappen until the final lap to get back ahead of Gasly in the Alpine.

Red Bull’s strategy decisions were also questionable as Verstappen struggled on the hard tyre in the middle of the race.

Reflecting on a difficult weekend for Red Bull, Marko said, as quoted by Motorsport.com: “It’s a very difficult day for Red Bull; that's obvious to all of us.

“We have to get, as soon as possible, performance in the car again and also standards like a pitstop have to work. The car is not the fastest and then the pit stops are not working. That is not acceptable.

“Very alarming. We know that we are not competitive, and there will be parts coming in the coming races, and hopefully they bring improvement.

“We have a lot of problems. The main problem is balance and grip. And out of this, so I guess the problems with the brakes came up. And then the normal procedure like a pitstop is not working, so one [issue] comes after the other.”