Red Bull chief speaks out after bust-up with Max Verstappen’s manager

Max Verstappen’s manager reportedly had a fiery row with Red Bull chief Helmut Marko following a disastrous Bahrain Grand Prix.

And Marko has now emerged from the bust-up saying he is ‘greatly concerned’ that the reigning world champion will leave the Formula 1 team at the end of the season.

Just a week after victory in Japan, Verstappen had a nightmare in Sakhir on Sunday, finishing sixth – over 34 seconds behind winner Oscar Piastri.

The Dutchman and teammate Yuki Tsunoda are still struggling to get to grips with the RB21, while Red Bull’s race was marred by pitstop issues.

Four races into 2025, Verstappen is third in the drivers’ championship, eight points behind Lando Norris, while Red Bull are also third in the constructors’ but a whopping 80 points behind McLaren already.

Nevertheless, Verstappen has already ruled himself out of title contention while the poor performance in Bahrain led to his manager Raymond Vermeulen confronting Marko.

As reported by Sky Sports’ Ted Kravitz: ‘At the end of the race, Raymond Vermeulen, Max’s manager, came into the Red Bull garage and gave Helmut Marko what can only be described as a piece of his mind.

‘He was remonstrating with Helmut Marko. Helmut Marko was standing there and taking it, and then Raymond stormed off at the back of the back of the garage, taking his pass off as he went. Clearly they are not happy.’

This incident come just days after the details of Verstappen’s release clause were revealed, with the driver able to leave Red Bull before the end of his contract in 2028 if he drops out of the top three in the championship.

Aston Martin and Mercedes have been closely linked with the 27-year-old and Marko now concedes that an early exit is very much a possibility.

‘The concern is great. As I said, improvements have to come in the near future so that he has a car with which he can win again,’ the Red Bull advisor told Sky Germany.

‘We have to create a basis with a car so that he can fight for the world championship.’

The Austrian later added: ‘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 pitstops are not working. That is not acceptable.’

There isn’t much time for Red Bull to make improvements to the RB21 before the next grand prix, with the gird heading to Saudi Arabia this weekend.

After coming through their academy, Verstappen made his F1 debut in 2015 for Red Bull’s junior team Toro Rosso before being promoted to the frontrunners a year later.

They are one of the longest-standing and successful driver/team partnerships in the history of the sport, winning four consecutive drivers’ championships, two constructors’ championships and 64 grand prix.

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