Bahrain GP 2019: Red Bull Laugh at Renault’s Double Retirement

The Red Bull Honda team could not help being smug inspite of missing out on a second straight podium. Max Verstappen was catching an ailing Charles LeClerc when the safety car was called out. The race ended behind the safety car itself, with Lewis Hamilton winning ahead of teammate Valtteri Bottas. The Red Bull driver ran out of time to catch the driver

As it turned out, the Renault duo, Daniel Ricciardo and Nico Hulkenberg retired almost in tandem. Given the proximity to each other, one would have almost thought that they took each other out. But, it later transpired that they both had electrical issues and were forced to retire.

Red Bull boss, Christian Horner said, “Renault blowing up unfortunately didn’t help us see the podium. It’s ironic, isn’t it? Whether they’re in the car or out of the car!”

However, he and Red Bull, acknowledged Ferrari’s sheer pace throughout the weekend. The Red Bull team principal is aware that there is a need to try and catch up to the Scuderia and the Silver Arrows.

He continued, “I think we need to find more performance. Ferrari were very strong here this weekend. Mercedes have got lucky with a 1-2 [finish]. Ferrari were dominant here this weekend. So trying to understand where we are, the strengths and weaknesses to Ferrari here is quite important.”

The Red Bull man later opened up on the issues that plagued the Red Bull team at the Bahrain GP. According to him, it was the inability of the Red Bull RB15 to get the maximum out of the tyres that did them in.

He concluded, “You can see, once you get in the window, particularly with these tyres, [Ferrari] looked like a different team to two different weeks ago and vice versa with Mercedes so it’s just understanding what the magic is.”

“We just don’t seem to have been able to extract the most out of the tyres in both qualifying and the race. How much is that affected by the wind? It’s difficult to say. But I think the drivers have done a good job to get the most out of the car. But when you listen to their comments, they’re not in a happy window at the moment with where the car is capable of being.”