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But team principal Christian Horner did not cherry coat the performance.

“Look, it was a bad weekend for the team, nothing went our way from the start of the race,” he acknowledged.

“We didn’t get off the line cleanly, and pit stops didn’t work well for us today.”

Nor did Verstappen.

“Everything went wrong that could go wrong,” Verstappen said. “The pace was very bad… so I think the position where I finished was the best that I could have done.”

Red Bull’s 2025 car is proving an awkward customer — just ask Lawson who was ruthlessly demoted to the team’s sister outfit RB after the first two races.

Verstappen was constantly taking issue with the brakes on his car in Sakhir.

“He’s not getting any bite or feel from the pedal, and of course it’s such an important tool that gives the driver so much feedback,” said Horner.

He had a positive assessment though of Tsunoda’s performance.

“I thought actually Yuki has had a very solid weekend, he qualified in the top ten, finished in the points today, he drove pretty well.

“He was only 12 or 14 seconds behind his team-mate, so I thought Yuki’s race was actually reasonably good.”

Looking ahead, the Briton, who was accompanied in Bahrain by his wife Geri Halliwell, best known as Ginger Spice of Spice Girl pop fame in the ‘90’s, said: “If you’ve got a well-balanced car, the whole thing just comes together that much easier.

“It’s a 24 race championship, we’re eight points behind in the drivers’ championship, and we know we need to make progress very quickly.”

Red Bull will be seeking to get back on track when Formula One travels to the other side of the Arabian peninsula next weekend for the last leg of a triple-header in Jeddah.