Marko admits 'great concern' over Verstappen’s Red Bull future

Four-time Formula One champion Verstappen finished sixth in Sunday's Bahrain Grand Prix as Oscar Piastri scored McLaren's third win of the season.

Verstappen sits third in the drivers' championship, with eight points separating him from McLaren's Lando Norris in first.

The Dutchman is currently contracted with Red Bull until 2028, but there is reportedly a performance clause in his deal that could allow him to leave sooner.

While the exact details of the clause have not been made public, the basis of it is that Red Bull must provide Verstappen with a winning car.

Speaking to Sky Germany, Marko was honest in his assessment.

"The concern is great. Improvements have to come in the near future so that he has a car with which he can win again," he said.

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

Verstappen won the Japanese Grand Prix a week prior to racing in Bahrain – a victory that was built on a brilliant lap in qualifying.

Due to the narrow track at Suzuka, Verstappen was able to hold his lead for the entirety of the race – pushing back the McLaren duo of Norris and Piastri – to score his first win of the year.

He had seen largely indifferent results prior, finishing third, fourth and seventh in the other three races in Australia, China and Bahrain, respectively.

Earlier in the year, Verstappen had made some complaints about balance issues with the Red Bull, which were unpredictable on corner entry with mid-corner understeer.

Over his final 13 races last season, the 27-year-old only managed two wins, but he still secured his fourth world title due to the comfortable lead he had built up earlier in the year.

Speaking on his performance in Bahrain, Verstappen said that the high temperatures and abrasive track conditions had made Red Bull's existing issues even more noticeable.

"Everything went wrong"Max Verstappen reflects on a tough race after finishing P6 #F1 #BahrainGP https://t.co/1kbnSJWwYa

— Formula 1 (@F1) April 13, 2025

"Here you just get punished a bit harder when you have big balance issues because the tarmac is so aggressive," he said.

"The wind is also quite high and the track has quite low grip, so everything is highlighted more.

"Just the whole weekend struggling a bit with brake feeling and stopping power, and besides that, very poor grip.

"We tried a lot on the set-up and basically all of it didn't work, didn't give us a clear direction to work in."