Max Verstappen manager gave ‘a piece of his mind, stormed off’ from Red Bull row

Max Verstappen’s manager reportedly had a bust-up with Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko following the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Red Bull endured a disappointing weekend in Bahrain with Verstappen only able to finish sixth, three places ahead of new teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

The four-time world champion was left frustrated by a combination of his car’s poor performance, handling issues, and Red Bull’s pit stop misery as he lost ground in the F1 world championship.

Tensions in the Red Bull camp appeared to be high after the race, with Verstappen’s manager Raymond Vermeulen reportedly giving Marko “a piece of his mind”.

That is according to Sky Sports F1’s pitlane reporter Ted Kravitz, who witnessed a heated confrontation between the pair after Sunday’s race.

“I’ve got to tell you a little story,” Kravitz said on his post-race notebook.

“Afer the race, I was waiting around here for some team principals and Raymond Vermeulen, Max’s manager, came into the Red Bull garage and gave Helmut Marko what can only be described as a right piece of his mind and was remonstrating with Helmut Marko.

“Helmut Marko was just standing there 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.”

Red Bull hold ‘crisis meeting’

Red Bull’s senior management held what has been dubbed as a “crisis meeting” after a horror show at the fourth round of the season.

Team principal Christian Horner, Marko, technical director Pierre Wache and chief engineer Paul Monaghan were spotted gathered in Red Bull’s hospitality area for what appeared to be some pretty serious talks.

Reflecting on a torrid weekend for Red Bull, Marko told Motorsport: “It’s a very difficult day for Red Bull; that's obvious to all of us.

“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 pit stops are not working. That is not acceptable.

“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.”