Max Verstappen was “not too disappointed” with his fourth place finish in the Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix, after he “just tried to survive” balance issues in his Red Bull.
The team struggled for pace throughout the weekend, with Verstappen qualifying in fifth place and 0.886 seconds adrift of polesitter Charles Leclerc. Red Bull team-mate Pierre Gasly was eliminated in Q2.
In the race, Verstappen was set for a fifth place finish before Sebastian Vettel’s unscheduled third pitstop promoted him to fourth.
Verstappen threatened to steal the final spot on the podium late on as long-time leader Leclerc slipped backwards after suffering a cylinder failure in his Ferrari. However, a safety car halted Verstappen’s charge.
“To be honest, we didn’t deserve to be on the podium, so I’m actually not too disappointed to be fourth,” Verstappen admitted when speaking to Sky Sports F1.
“I think it’s still better than what the race showed, because we had no pace and we couldn’t really do anything.
“I was just sliding around a lot with the wind and in general the balance of the car was not good. So just trying to survive and just bring it to the end.
“Of course, when you see the opportunity to go for a podium you try, but then the safety car came out. I’m not too disappointed about that.”
Verstappen was forced to defend from a fast starting Carlos Sainz Jr in the opening stages of the race, and the two made contact when the McLaren driver attempted to pass around the outside at Turn 4.
Both braking late, the two made heavy wheel-to-wheel contact at the apex of the corner. The Red Bull driver emerged unscathed, but Sainz dropped to the rear of the field with a puncture and front wing damage.
The stewards deemed the clash a racing incident.
“He wanted to go around the outside,” Verstappen said. “He braked late but then I also braked late and I guess he thought I wasn’t there anymore, because with these cars you can’t see what’s next to you.
“He turned in but I was there, so we had contact.”
Sainz, who vaulted from seventh on the grid to in order to mount the challenge to Verstappen, stated; “I was targeting an overtake on Max and then see what I could do after that.
“I got a good run out of Turn 2, got the DRS, arrived further ahead than Max into Turn 4 and tried a manoeuvre around the outside and then received a really big hit from Max.
“I got the worst part of that with a puncture. I can’t believe the Red Bull didn’t get any damage from the massive hit that I received.
“It was very, very extremely hard racing.”
