Verstappen: I’m not fighting for 2025 F1 title, just "taking part"

Max Verstappen was in a sombre mood after Red Bull's difficult qualifying session at Formula 1's Bahrain Grand Prix

A deflated Max Verstappen says Bahrain Grand Prix qualifying shows he's just "taking part" in this year's Formula 1 world championship rather than fighting for the title.

Verstappen finished a lowly seventh in Bahrain qualifying after having already scraped through to Q3 alongside team-mate Yuki Tsunoda, with the Dutchman complaining about a lack of grip and brake issues with his Red Bull RB21 car.

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It's the result the four-time world champion had already been fearing after warning on Friday that Red Bull was nowhere near McLaren's pace, with Verstappen eventually shipping 0.582s to polesitter Oscar Piastri.

Speaking to Dutch media after the session, including Motorsport.com, Verstappen sounded pessimistic over his world title chances, just one week after taking a stunning pole-to-flag win in Japan.

"McLaren are not my rivals right now. I am just taking part in this world championship," Verstappen said. When pressed by Motorsport.com on whether he meant he didn't see himself competing for the actual title, he replied: "No, I don't."

Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

At Japan's low-degradation Suzuka circuit, Verstappen managed to take pole with a magical qualifying lap, while the McLarens slipped up, and was then in a position to control the race. But on the high-degradation, high-temperature Sakhir track, the four-time world champion feels there is no place for Red Bull to hide its shortcomings.

"If you look at the gap to McLaren I'm not surprised," he explained. "I already told the team during the winter test here that the gap is half a second, and that proves to be the case, so I was right in that respect. If you look at the entire season, I don't think we ever really had a chance.

"If others make mistakes, like in Suzuka qualifying, then we can be ahead. In Suzuka passing was impossible, but that's not always the case."