Source: REUTERS/Rula Rouhana
[Saba Sports News] After Red Bull’s disastrous Bahrain Grand Prix, famous F1 commentator David Croft pressed Verstappen on rumors of his move. The four-time champion ended the topic with a curt “focus on commentating.” When asked about the “performance clauses” in his contract, Verstappen, showing the demeanor of a world champion, cited last year’s McLaren team’s late surge, implying that the season is long and variables are still many. The four-time F1 world champion rarely got angry after the Bahrain station, facing the crisis of the Red Bull team: solving the car problem is the top priority. Faced with the team’s technical advisor Helmut Marko’s statement that he is “very worried about losing Verstappen,” the Dutch driver chose to respond with actions rather than words—he is leading the technical team to work day and night on the fatal flaws of the RB21 car. After four races this season, Verstappen is temporarily third in the driver’s championship, 8 points behind the leading Lando Norris. More seriously, the RB21 car exposed a problem with tire management under high temperatures at the Bahrain circuit, and the gap of 34 seconds behind the champion Oscar Piastri in the final race is even more alarming.