Helmut Marko has admitted that a World Championship title is out of the question if Red Bull turns in more performances like the Bahrain Grand Prix. Max Verstappen was only able to finish sixth at the Sakhir International Circuit, with team-mate Yuki Tsunoda down in ninth at the chequered flag. The race weekend was a struggle from the outset for the defending world champion.

Verstappen struggled for grip throughout the free practice sessions and was only able to qualify in seventh, just one week after pulling off a miraculous pole lap in Japan. Things didn’t get much better on race day. Verstappen lost two positions into Turn One and eventually recovered to P6 with a last-lap pass on Alpine’s Pierre Gasly. Meanwhile, title rivals Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris both finished on the podium.

After the race came to an end, the mood in the Red Bull camp was a dour one. Dressing down a catastrophic weekend, Marko confessed: “With a performance like this, unfortunately, the World Championship won’t happen.”

This will be grim news for Verstappen, who had set his sights on matching Michael Schumacher’s record of five successive Drivers’ Championship crowns. The Dutchman is now eight points behind Norris, and third in the overall standings.

“It’s a very difficult day for Red Bull, that’s obvious to all of us,” Marko continued. “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.”

The Austrian advisor added: “Very alarming. We know that we are not competitive, and there will be parts coming in the coming races, and hopefully, they bring improvement. We have a lot of problems.

“The main problem is balance and grip. And out of this, so I guess the problems with the brakes came up. And then the normal procedure like a pitstop is not working, so one [issue] comes after the other.”

For Verstappen, Marko and Christian Horner, this performance will be a head-scratcher following the team’s first win of the season at the Japanese Grand Prix. Red Bull were scrapping with Alpine for the honour of being labelled the fourth fastest car in Sakhir, and there is little time to solve their issues before next weekend’s race in Jeddah.