Christian Horner put down the F1 Australian GP issue for Max Verstappen to be fuel related, as the Dutchman note about pre-race concerns.
After the double disaster in Bahrain, Red Bull were once again on the receiving end in F1 Australian GP. They were not only down on pace to Ferrari, but another fuel-related issue ended any chance for Verstappen to score the crucial points for the championship.
In fact, Red Bull also lost the chance to catch up Ferrari on the constructors’ side who were down by one car in the grand prix. Even though the issue was fuel related, Horner noted that it was a separate trouble than to what they faced in Bahrain with both cars.
As such, the senior team is not the only one facing reliability issues with AlphaTauri also having troubles and interestingly all independent to each other. “It’s totally understandable, Max’s frustration,” said Horner to TV media. “That was a really disappointing result not to finish the race, I don’t think it’s actually engine related.
“We think it was an external fuel leak and we need to understand exactly what has caused that failure, so it was a very frustrating race in that respect. It was desperately frustrating I think, we didn’t have the pace to race Charles. They were in a league of their own but frustrating not to be banking those points,” summed up Horner.
Curiously before the grand prix, Red Bull changed host of parts on Verstappen’s car, which were listed as: ‘Auxiliary radiator, LHS deflector, Fuel cell loom, Clutch actuator, Gearbox hydraulic system and actuators, Clutch break out box, Parameter changes associated with clutch actuator and gearbox hydraulic system replacement’.
But Horner reckoned it was not related to those changes, although, he cautioned that they will have to wait for larger investigation back in Japan. Even though the engines carry ‘Red Bull Powertrains’ badge, they are still transported from Sakura.
Verstappen, on the other hand, stated that the team did have concerns pre-race about reliability. “We didn’t even finish the race, so it’s pretty frustrating and unacceptable,” he said to TV media. “I mean, I knew there was a problem [with the work on the car pre-race and on the grid], so it was always going to be a question mark of finishing the race.
“But I mean these kind of things if you want to fight for the title, it cannot happen. Overall it doesn’t look like there is an easy fix so we need to work hard as a team, there are a lot of things to work on,” summed up Verstappen.
Teammate Sergio Perez who managed to fight back to second after losing some ground early on, also noted about the creeping problems being a concern. “It’s certainly a concern,” he said. “We’ve lost a lot of points already in these first three races that in the end can make a huge difference in the championship. So we are obviously aware of it.
“All the team back home in Milton Keynes, here, are working flat out to try to come up with solutions. We don’t know exactly the issue on Max’s today. So yeah, we will see and I’m sure we will turn things around and hopefully we can start again from zero when we go back to Europe,” summed up Perez.
Here’s how the race ended for Max Verstappen: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/video.2022-australian-grand-prix-mechanical-failure-forces-verstappen-to-retire.1729700677612899336.html
Here’s how F1 Australian GP panned out
