The start of the 2022 Formula 1 championship revealed an unexpected fragility of Red Bull. Both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, in fact, were forced to retire in the final stages of the season opening GP in Bahrain, while in Australia it was the world champion who had to raise the white flag with 20 laps to go when he was at the pursuit of Charles Leclerc.
The double zero in the standings cost dearly to the Dutchman who is now chasing the Ferrari driver 46 points late and has defined the lack of reliability of the RB18 as unacceptable immediately after the Melbourne GP.
Sergio Perez, unlike his teammate, managed to see the checkered flag last Sunday, finishing on the second step of the podium, but admitted with the reliability at the moment he is the Achilles heel of the latest car made by Adrian Newey.
“It certainly represents a concern. We have lost a lot of points in these first three races and they could make a difference at the end of the season. We are aware of it ”.
“The whole team, both on the track and in Milton Keynes, is working hard to find a solution. I am sure they will succeed and we will be able to start from scratch when we return to Europe ”.
The three retirements suffered in the first three races also hurt from a Constructors point of view. In the team classification, Red Bull occupies third place with 55 points and is 49 points behind Ferrari and 10 from Mercedes, surprisingly in second place.
Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes W13, Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB18
Photo by: Steve Etherington / Motorsport Images
Furthermore, in Australia, Leclerc had a perfect weekend obtaining pole, victory, fastest lap and remained in first position from the first to the last lap. Perez underlined the current state of form of the Monegasque, at the first “grand slam” of his career and of Ferrari.
“This was the first weekend in which they were clearly superior. They were on another level ”.
“We struggled a lot in finding the correct balance of the car, we went in the wrong direction. I think we will have to analyze everything carefully ”.
“I am sure we will learn a lot from this weekend because it seems that with this type of tire we suffer more than the Ferrari.”
#Perez #Red #Bull #fragility #worrying