Max Verstappen says Red Bull still need to get on top of their reliability problems, following his third victory of the season.
The world champion had no trouble with his car on his way to victory in Miami yesterday. However he lost much of his running on Friday due to technical problems and team mate Sergio Perez was struck by an engine sensor fault which cost him power during the race.“We’re still having a few issues we have to solve,” said Verstappen. “I mean, we are quick, but as you can see, my Friday was terrible, which is not great if you want to have a good weekend.
“Also Checo had a few issues in the race, so we have to be on top of that, but clearly there is a lot of potential, we just need to make sure it’s reliable.”
Verstappen said the problems he encountered on Friday compromised him in qualifying. He took third on the grid behind the Ferrari drivers.
“I had a lot of issues on Friday, which compromises your weekend, and especially [Saturday],” he said. “Today everything went well with the start but it also could have been the other way around.
“Of course again, you can say, fair enough, because if you missed almost whole Friday, what can you do about it? So we just have to nail down a really positive weekend without issues.”
However Verstappen is pleased the Red Bull RB18 has proved quick, if not as reliable as rival teams’ cars.
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“I think of course, Imola, we had that [reliability], but it’s still a bit of a hit and miss too much. So we just have to make sure that we are more reliable and more on top of things.
He described his race as “very smooth” after having “all my bad luck on Friday.” He came under pressure from Charles Leclerc at the end of the race when a Safety Car period bunched the field together.
“During those laps it was very tricky. I was struggling a lot actually with the cold tyres hitting the kerbs. So going through the chicane was not easy, I made a few mistakes there a few times.
“So it was very important to get a good run out of the chicane and actually also turn 16 onto the straight. But of course with the extra top speed we had today that of course also helps.”
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Esploratore (@esploratore1)
9th May 2022, 17:50
“But as you can see the car is quick. I’m very happy about that, I mean, if you would be slow and reliable, that’s probably also not a good thing.”
He basically described the mercedes here!
Illusive (@illusive)
9th May 2022, 19:02
I was expecting Mercedes to have a lot of heating issues considering their aggressive packaging. But they have been quite reliable.
Euro Brun (@eurobrun)
9th May 2022, 20:33
I’m enjoying the dynamic of Ferrari fast on Saturday, Red Bull fast on Sunday but unreliable. Its got a kinda 90s vibe to it. I hope Red Bull keep the uncertainty up, cos otherwise they’ll walk it, but for now it’s actually quite intriguing.
MattDS (@mattds)
10th May 2022, 8:23
@eurobrun not sure about them walking it, we are going to a few tracks now that might suit the Ferrari most. Ferrari were faster on merit in Australia, and if what we’ve seen translates to the coming races then Spain and Monaco might be Ferrari territory as well. The balance could keep on swinging from one side to the other.
What is certain though is that Ferrari will have quite the work on their hands to keep developing, as well as stepping up a notch in terms of strategy and pit work. In Miami, Red Bull did 3 stops and they were the 3 fastest stops of the race. Meanwhile Ferrari’s 2 stops were in the bottom half.
papaya
10th May 2022, 9:23
Trademark of Newey’s race cars, super rocket fast but more reliability trouble, reminded me of Hakkinen and Raikkonen’s McLaren Mercedes. It was nice to watch them playing catch-up games overtaking from behind, but there could be drama engine/hydraulic explosion on final laps, or botched-up when starting the race.