The Australian weekend of the Milton Keynes team didn't seem to have started badly in view of Sunday's race, after showing good race pace during free practice (the margin between Red Bull and Ferrari was just a tenth), and after having conquered the second and third position on the starting grid behind the leader of the world championship. Encouraging prospects therefore for the team, which came from the victory won on the coasts of the Red Sea, and with what it takes to try to mend step by step the very heavy 26-0 suffered in Bahrain.
Hypotheses and forecasts were clouded, however, after a few laps after the red lights went out, in which it was immediately understood that the Maranello F1-75 had more, if you will, even 'surprise', given the layout changes of the Melbourne track, now faster, Adrian Newey's creature initially seemed to be the favourite. An almost resigned Max Verstappen headed for what would have been, as he himself said during the interviews, an "easy second place". Suddenly, however, the Red Bull's nightmares resurfaced, forcing the Dutchman to retire during lap 39. Result: another 26-0 inflicted by the man who race after race seems to be the probable contender for the title with the Dutchman.
So another defeat that makes itself felt from a world perspective, since the reigning world champion is sixth in the standings, and sees his rival stretch, reaching 71 lengths, 34 points behind the second: George Russel. It certainly isn't the ideal start for anyone who has the means and possibilities to aim for the title, but it's also true that there are twenty races left, and with the development of these single-seaters still in their 'embryo' stage, anything can happen.
the causes
The Honda power unit, at least until now, has shown that its weak point is reliability, forcing the Milton Keynes cars to retire three times in six starts, a rate of 50% that is anything but encouraging.
Red Bull Team Principal Christian Horner revealed to the microphones that the problem would be attributable to the fuel system, to be precise there would have been a fuel leak, which adds to the many failures encountered in the start of the season by the engines of the japanese house. Distraught Verstappen even revealed that the engineers had warned him, before the start, that he would hardly be able to finish the race. Max later added: “If you want to fight for the World Championship these things mustn't happen, right now I'm not thinking about the title, there's no reason to believe it. The season is long but we would need 45 races"
What worries the world champion driver team is above all the independence of the problems encountered, which genesis does not seem to have a common ancestor. The fact of having to solve problems that don't seem to have a common thread particularly alarms the team, which is behind Mercedes in the constructors' championship. The engine dressed in Verstappen's RB18 will be put on a flight towards Sakura to be analyzed by Honda technicians, in the hope of trying to limit further problems, to aim for a rematch when the circus returns to the European continent.
SOURCE: AD.nl
