After a brilliant weekend at Suzuka last week, where he took pole position and won the race with ease, Max Verstappen had a much tougher time in Bahrain.

The four-time world champion could only qualify seventh, more than half a second behind Oscar Piastri, who took pole. Verstappen struggled with grip and brake problems in his RB21 and only just made it through to Q3 alongside his teammate Yuki Tsunoda.

After qualifying, Verstappen sounded frustrated and downbeat. Speaking to the media, he admitted that he no longer sees himself as a title contender this season.

“McLaren are not my rivals right now. I’m just taking part in this world championship,” he said, quoted by Motorsport.com.

When asked directly if he meant he didn't see himself competing for the actual title, he replied: “No, I don’t.” That was a surprising statement from a driver who looked so strong just one week ago in Japan.

He also said he had already warned the team during pre-season testing that they were too far off the pace. “I already told the team during the winter test here that the gap is half a second, and that proves to be the case,” he explained.

“We have tried everything we could on the car and nothing works, so that’s not the issue. If I had to do qualifying again, then I have no idea what else we could have changed.”

Looking ahead to the Bahrain Grand Prix, Verstappen isn't very hopeful about moving forward. He starts just behind Lando Norris, who qualified sixth in the other McLaren.

“Lando normally just drives to the front with the speed they have,” he said.

“Of course, there’s an Alpine [Pierre Gasly] that could drop back, but other than that, it will be tough to move up because our pace is all similar. I will do my best, but I don’t know if it’ll be enough for a podium or sixth.”