Three days of problems
A nightmare weekend for the Red Bull team in China concluded in the worst possible way. Isack Hadjar just managed to limit the damage for the Milton Keynes-based team, crossing the finish line in eighth position after climbing back up following a spin that had sent him to the back of the pack at the start of the race; Max Verstappen, on the other hand, did not see the checkered flag. The Dutchman was in sixth position when a cooling system failure forced him to retire.
In general, however, the entire weekend was riddled with problems for the Austro-British team, which had to face a harsh reality check after having experienced a relatively good debut in the first GP of the season, in Australia. Team principal Laurent Mekies acknowledged the many difficulties faced by the team in recent days, emphasizing the need for hard work to straighten out the situation in the upcoming races.
An April to spend in the factory
“The Chinese Grand Prix proved to be a very difficult event for us since Friday – Mekies admitted – and starting at a disadvantage at the beginning of a Sprint weekend is the worst possible scenario, because there is very little time to recover. We knew that the mere fact of lining up on the grid in Melbourne with our power unit was already a significant result in itself and it would have been naive not to expect to encounter reliability issues“.
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“Today we had to retire Max due to a cooling system failure. However, this was not our only problem, as, overall, in terms of performance, our package showed some significant shortcomings – the French manager added – nevertheless, we have learned a lot in recent weeks and I expect we can be more competitive starting from the next round in Japan, in two weeks. Furthermore, the cancellation of the April races will give us all the chance to catch our breath and work hard in Milton Keynes. We have a great group of talented people on campus and I have full confidence that we will overcome our current limitations thanks to a huge effort from everyone and quickly improve our package,” he concluded.
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