Red Bull frustrated with Ricciardo DNF “beyond our control”
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says his squad's double failure at the Bahrain Grand Prix was a two-fold frustration with Max Verstappen retiring due to damage sustained in a clash with Lewis Hamilton while Daniel Ricciardo retired with an electrical issues “beyond the team’s control”.
Red Bull’s relationship with power unit supplier Renault has remained fraught as the Milton Keynes-based squad pointing to its engine deficit to the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari as key to its performance gap.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says his squad's double failure at the Bahrain Grand Prix was a two-fold frustration with Max Verstappen retiring due to damage sustained in a clash with Lewis Hamilton while Daniel Ricciardo retired with an electrical issues “beyond the team’s control”.
Red Bull’s relationship with power unit supplier Renault has remained fraught as the Milton Keynes-based squad pointing to its engine deficit to the likes of Mercedes and Ferrari as key to its performance gap.
While Horner shrugged off Verstappen’s Bahrain GP exit as a racing incident after sustaining damage from a collision with Hamilton, the Red Bull boss says Ricciardo’s exit was out of his team’s control after suffering an electrical shutdown of the car.
“Unfortunately we have given a lot of points away, which is ultimately frustrating,” Horner said. “An energy store issue is under investigation, but if that is the root cause that is the second one we have had this year. One preseason one, and potentially here. That is an element beyond our control.”
Horner was confident of Red Bull challenging for victory in Bahrain with an optimum strategy despite losing out on one-lap pace but says his team can’t dwell on the missed opportunity ahead of the back-to-back race in China this weekend.
“It was a racing incident between two competitive drivers, so ifs, buts and maybes,” he said. “The only solace we can take from this weekend is once again we genuinely feel that we had a shot at a really competitive race.
“Even from the grid positions they started from I am convinced we would have been in good shape.”
In the early F1 world constructors’ championship standings Red Bull slipped back to fourth place behind McLaren after its first double retirement since the 2010 Korean Grand Prix, but Red Bull also suffered a double failure at the 2014 Australian Grand Prix when Sebastian Vettel retired with an engine issue while Ricciardo was disqualified post-race due to exceeding the maximum fuel limit.
