Christian Horner, on Verstappen's two retirements: "It's terribly frustrating"

It's a start to the season that brings back many bad memories for the Austrian team. With three retirements due to engine problems in three races, or even five if we take into account those ofAlpha Tauri, the situation is likely to be frustrating for Red Bull and Christian Horner. It's all the more annoying as the RB18's performance is far from ridiculous, although Ferrari seems to have a head start. But with two potential second places at the finish for Verstappen, the situation would surely have taken a different turn…

"It's totally understandable, his frustration [that of Max Verstappen after the Australian Grand Prix], concedes the boss, Christian Horner. It's a really disappointing result not to finish the race. We don't know yet what the problem is, I don't think it's engine related, I think it might be a fuel problem, but we need to look at what exactly happened...

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Until we got the car back, we didn't have the data, we didn't have the information. But it's terribly frustrating. I think like Max said we didn't have the pace to race Charles [Leclerc] today - [Ferrari] was in a league of its own. But it's frustrating not to score these points. »

More competitive at Imola? 

Although the 2022 championship is only in its early stages (there are still 87% of the season to go), the gap between Charles Leclerc of the rest of the peloton is substantial. The Monegasque already has a comfortable lead over his first pursuer – 34 points over Russell, 46 over the Dutchman – when the latter had only exceeded 33 points last year between Verstappen and Hamilton.

It is therefore out of the question to draw hasty conclusions. But Red Bull will have to find answers to its problems. And quick. A fast car is good, a fast and reliable car is better. Well, though, this was the debate of the weekend between Russell and Horner otherwise.

“It was really a day of mixed emotions, with Max not finishing the race, admits the Briton. But we're in this situation as a team, and we're going to bounce back. The season is long and we have the basis of a fast and competitive car, but we need to resolve these issues quickly and we will continue to push. »

Happy coincidence of the calendar, the F1 heads next week to Imola (Italy), where Max Verstappen had a real recital last year, winning with almost 22 seconds ahead of Hamilton. But now the Ferraris are now rearing their ugly heads, and it would certainly not be a good idea not to be in the lead again on their land.