F1 fans now convinced Max Verstappen wants to ‘get out’ of his Red Bull contract after reading his Bahrain GP comments

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Max Verstappen made it clear that Red Bull Racing need to make immediate progress after the Bahrain Grand Prix following his most disappointing result of the 2025 Formula 1 season.

Red Bull’s star driver was only able to make up a single position during the Bahrain Grand Prix to finish sixth, losing ground to both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri in the drivers’ championship.

Max Verstappen could only produce a lap in qualifying that was good enough for P7, leaving him trailing both Mercedes drivers and Pierre Gasly’s Alpine.

He got a decent start in the race, although Kimi Antonelli was able to pass Verstappen during the race, despite his lack of experience compared to the four-time world champion.

Verstappen only managed to make up a single place in the race, overtaking Gasly on the final lap to score eight points for Red Bull.

His new teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, earned the first two points for the other side of the garage, but the constructors’ championship is quickly looking out of reach for Christian Horner’s team.

READ MORE: All you need to know about Red Bull Racing from engine to Ford links

F1 fans think Max Verstappen wants to leave Red Bull after Bahrain Grand Prix comments

Verstappen was talking to the Dutch media, including GPBlog, during the Bahrain Grand Prix weekend and explained: “Yes, we tried everything with the car and nothing works. So it’s not the car.

“I wouldn’t know what to adjust on the car if I could do the qualification again. We have done everything that is logical on this circuit.

“I don’t want to hear about how many are coming or how much of a difference it should make. I just want it to come, and we will see how much it delivers.”

Verstappen was then asked what needs to be done to improve the car, and he said: “It’s a lot, but we really have balance problems. It’s two things – putting more grip on the car and achieving a better balance.”

Plenty of fans saw Verstappen’s comments and came to the conclusion that he’s not happy with Red Bull and might be looking for a way out.

One fan explained, “Two possibilities here: 1. Max is trying to put pressure on the team, hoping it’ll be produce something positive because kindness clearly didn’t work.

“2. Max is trying to steer towards a break with Red Bull.”

Another fan added, “His 1000% right because they can bring 10000 things, but who says it will correlate from wind tunnel to track?”

One comment said, “We need a better car because at the moment, it seems like Red Bull is just hoping the Spain TD will pull McLaren back, rather than working to get themselves back to the front.”

Another fan pointed out, “Honestly, every single week it’s “we need to work on…”, “we need to improve this” but nothing ever happens,” while one reply simply said, “He is mad mad.”

One response summed up how many fans feel about Verstappen perfectly, simply stating: “Bro just wants a dominant car, nothing else, now that Red Bull is not winning he wants a reason to get out of his contract.”

READ MORE: Red Bull driver Max Verstappen’s life outside F1 from net worth to girlfriend

Ralf Schumacher gives his verdict on Max Verstappen’s future

Verstappen hasn’t said anything publicly about wanting to leave Red Bull, and that doesn’t feel like it would be his style even if he privately decided to start exploring other options.

Raymond Vermeulen was seen in discussions with Helmut Marko after the race in Bahrain, and as Verstappen’s manager, he knows exactly what his client needs to convince him to stay with the team.

Verstappen’s contract runs until the end of 2028, but is full of performance clauses and caveats that could allow him to move on earlier than that.

Ralf Schumacher is become more convinced that Verstappen will leave based on what he’s hearing about Red Bull behind the scenes.

That would be a disaster for Horner given Red Bull’s lack of a world-class replacement.