Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says the team is bemoaning a “hugely frustrating” outcome to the Bahrain Grand Prix which he believes was a missed opportunity for the Austrian outfit.
Red Bull showed extremely promising long-run pace in Friday practice, and felt optimistic it had the potential to challenge Ferrari and Mercedes in Sunday’s race.
However, the team witnessed both of its cars retire in the space of a few laps as Daniel Ricciardo suffered a loss of engine power while in fourth-place and Max Verstappen tangled with Lewis Hamilton resulting in a left-rear puncture.
The double retirement was Red Bull’s first since Korea 2010, and Horner admits it was bitterly disappointing to leave Bahrain empty-handed.
Asked if Red Bull would have been able to fight for victory, Horner said: “Ifs, buts and maybes, but we could see throughout the weekend our pace was good, and it was stronger in the race than it was in qually.
“Daniel commented that even in the two laps that he was able to do, he was able to close pretty comfortably on Kimi. And Max the feeling he was getting from the car, the fact that he was on the same tyre he used to line up and pass Lewis, showed that the potential was really there.
“A brutally frustrating race for us because we had again another very competitive race car. So to lose Daniel with what looks like a sudden power loss to the car, which looks like a failure within the energy store, on lap two when he was already catching Kimi and looking in good shape, was extremely frustrating.”
Horner revealed the extent of Verstappen’s puncture caused damage to the gearbox and resulted in a loss of hydraulic pressure. The team opted to retire the car early to avoid any further harm with the next round in China just a few days away.
“A few corners prior to that we lost Max effectively – he had a fantastic first lap, as usual with him some aggressive moves,” Horner added.
“He then managed to get on to the gearbox of Lewis, got a great exit onto the straight at the start of the second lap, and got a good tow, went for the inside line, also had Fernando there to deal with as well, made the corner but unfortunately there was contact on the exit of Turn 1 and that resulted in an immediate puncture.
“Had it not happened in Turn 1, and he hadn’t had to drive the car back as a three-wheeler, that is ultimately what damaged the gearbox. And therefore, we decided to retire the car because we were losing hydraulic pressure rapidly. To have both cars retired within two laps is hugely frustrating.”
