Explained: The cause of Red Bull’s horror Bahrain GP pit stops

Red Bull have moved to explain what caused the delayed pit stops for their drivers during the F1 Bahrain Grand Prix.

Both Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda were left frustrated after losing valuable seconds during their pit stops due to an unusual problem with Red Bull’s traffic light system.

During Verstappen and Tsunoda’s first pit stops, the red light on the Red Bull pit gantry failed to change to green after the car had been serviced despite the pit lane being clear.

Verstappen rejoined last in 17th after being held for an additional period of time. Tsunoda was affected by the same problem, delaying his exit from the pit box by several seconds.

Four-time world champion Verstappen had a slow second stop due to a sticky front wheel on his way to a disappointing sixth place and was left lamenting that “everything went wrong that could go wrong”.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner said: “Max came in the first stop and the light didn't [do anything]. Of course, it's a very simple system and we expected it [might be] that maybe the button hadn't been pressed hard enough by one of the technicians.

“The next pitstop was within one minute, and then it happened again. So at that point we went into a manual override on the system and the chief mechanics released the car.”

Horner said Red Bull will seek to remedy the problem ahead of this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

"I've just heard that there was some kind of wiring or electrical issue with the gantry,” he added.

“One I certainly haven't seen before, where I mean the drivers live by those traffic lights, and the actual stops were pretty good, one of them was a two-second stop.

"But then the driver's waiting for the lights and obviously it didn't go out so everything's gone into quarantine and we'll have a good look at it.”

Weekend to forget for Red Bull

Verstappen only made up one position in the race thanks to a last-lap overtake on Alpine’s Pierre Gasly, while Tsunoda scored his first points for Red Bull in ninth.

The result leaves Verstappen eight points adrift of Lando Norris in the drivers' championship, while Red Bull are now 80 points behind McLaren in the constructors' standings. 

Horner put Red Bull’s Bahrain woes down to two fundamental problems - braking issues and balance trouble.

"We've been struggling with two issues this weekend, a braking issue, and, you know, secondly, just an imbalance, and when you have that then everything looks worse,” he explained.

"On top of that, we've had a horrible day where we had what looks like a wiring loom issue in the pit gantry that caused there to be a problem with the traffic light.

"All in all, to actually come away with a 6th place and limit it to an 8-point deficit to Lando with the challenges that we've had. We need to leave here, obviously focus on what we can sort out for Jeddah in 5 days' time.”

Red Bull reportedly held a 'crisis meeting' on Sunday night in the Bahrain paddock.