After the 2025 Bahrain GP, it would appear that all hell has broken loose at Red Bull. From internal verbal tussles to crisis meetings—it has all kicked off for the Milton Keynes-based outfit after a dismal showing at the Sakhir International Circuit last weekend.
The discontent isn’t limited to the engineers and fans, but even four-time world champion Max Verstappen has been left fuming after the RB21 was truly exposed for the first time—the Dutchman could only secure a sixth-place finish at the chequered flag and slipped to P3 in the drivers’ standings. A rare instance, happening for the first time since 2022.
So, it makes sense as to why Red Bull would be pressing the panic button right now.
Dutch F1 journalist Erik van Haren has shed some light on this chaos happening behind the scenes at the Milton Keynes-based team to Telesport, a subsidiary of De Telegraaf, as he often has his finger on the pulse on what goes behind the scenes at Red Bull.
“Well, normally Christian Horner, the team boss, and Helmut Marko are available for interviews quite quickly. And now they withdrew. There was a rather heated conversation with Raymond Vermeulen. Verstappen’s manager was also shocked by what he saw in Bahrain,” he said.
The Dutch journalist stated how Christian Horner is often present for post-race interviews with the broadcast media, but in Bahrain, he was only available for the written media’s press conference at the table. That’s a rarity, and resultantly, Van Haren feels, “that means that there is a lot of panic at Red Bull.”
Difficult weekend Struggled with the balance and overall pace. We move forward and keep pushing @redbullracing pic.twitter.com/SRlKflYfnj
— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) April 13, 2025
Besides, the Dutch journalist also referred to the reported bust-up between Verstappen’s manager and team advisor, Helmut Marko, which may be a crucial event in deciding Verstappen’s future amid Red Bull’s incessant struggles with their car.
Shortly after, it was also revealed on social media that the team had called for an emergency meeting with the top brass, including Horner, Marko, Paul Monaghan, and Pierre Wache, presumably to discuss the horrible showing in Bahrain.
While there will be a lot to unpack, the meeting was triggered by the abysmal performance window of the RB21, which was shouded at races like Australia and Japan. While in China, there were signs that Verstappen was struggling; Red Bull had to deal with Liam Lawson’s struggles and eventual demotion. But now the ball is in their court to resolve this mess.
Can Red Bull salvage their 2025 campaign?
With time running out, the Austrian team needs to get on top of the issues plaguing the car if they want to give Verstappen a title shot. If not, Marko believes that the Dutchman could leave the team at the end of the year.
Luckily, Horner believes that a turnaround is on the cards. “The result clearly showed us what we need to work on. Now, with the insights we’ve gained, we can take the right path to find solutions. I believe in our technical team. They’ve proven over many years that they’re capable,” he explained.
The Dutchman has himself urged the team to start identifying the core issues underlying the performance deficit on the RB21. In turn, Horner has ensured the media that the team have already gotten on top of it and expects to see progress very soon.
“We understand the problems and now we have to analyse the whole thing, including the big shifts in balance that these cars have with the front and rear wing. So we have to analyse all those things now,” he revealed.
