Red Bull team principal Christian Horner is sure the team’s car is substantially quicker than the midfield teams, despite only narrowly out-qualifying them in the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Although Red Bull qualified third-quickest in the first two races of the new season, midfield leaders Haas cut the gap between them from half a second in Australia to just five-thousandths of a second in Bahrain.However Horner indicated the teams’ race pace indicated the true gap between them.
“We’re quite a long way ahead of the rest of the pack,” he said. “Max [Verstappen] was 20, more than that, 30 or so seconds up the road from the fourth-placed team.”
Verstappen was over half a minute clear of midfield leader Nico Hulkenberg when the Safety Car was deployed in Bahrain, and nearly a lap ahead of Kevin Magnussen’s Haas.
However Horner agreed the midfield fight is much closer this year. “I think in the race there’s still a gap there but for sure it has ‘concertina-ed’,” he said.
“You tend to see that sometimes with regulation changes like we’ve had. I think front wings and tyres have definitey brought the pack closer together. I think for Formula 1 that’s a good thing. [Bahrain] was an exciting race not just to be in but hopefully for the fans as well.”
Red Bull were not as competitive on the C3 (soft) compound tyres in Bahrain. “We’ve got more to sort out, obviously, on the chassis side,” Horner admitted. “The engine’s continuing to make good progress so our focus is very much on trying to understand the tyre issues and trying to get the car into a good operating window.”
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Nitzo (@webtel)
9th April 2019, 7:51
Horner and co whined a lot about Renualt and their failures but i wonder how RB have been doing…
This was a team that dominated the sport for almost four long years. Yet, all they have been able to do is win a few races every now and then and take pride in that–don’t see anything wrong in that; i believe they have set their targets so low that winning a few races per year is enough for them to beat their chests and shout out loud.
If they don’t win a single race this year with Honda, i wonder if Horner will ever bother to comment on engines again. Perhaps they are still resting on their laurels that they won several years ago.
The way i see it, Redbull are neither in F1 nor F1.5.
GtisBetter (@)
9th April 2019, 11:07
You only have to look why they were dominating and when they lost it to know engines are so important that RB can only do so much
F1oSaurus (@)
9th April 2019, 17:52
@passingisoverrated Yes, that’s why Mercedes is winning the championships and Williams is dead last. It’s all about the engine! /s
nase
9th April 2019, 8:01
The usual RB spin. Red Bull’s biggest issue in Bahrain wasn’t the vanishingly tiny qualifying gap to Haas, but indeed their race pace. The gaps at the end of the race were reassuring, but let’s not forget that Carlos Sainz was easily quicker than Verstappen and had almost finished the job when the minor contact with the Red Bull deflated his tyre and cost him the race.
Because nothing says “We’re quite a long way ahead of the rest of the pack” quite like one of that pack treating your car like a rolling chicane …
Von Smallhausen (@engelbertvonsmallhausen)
9th April 2019, 10:25
Don’t think McLaren had the pace. Verstappen made a mistake lost ground to Bottas so he did not have DRS anymore, Sainz had DRS. If you look at the rest of the GP McLaren was not close to the pace of Verstappen. But we’ll see in the next GP’s.
nase
9th April 2019, 12:15
@engelbertvonsmallhausen
I’m not sure it was just down to that small mistake. Sainz had been on his tail in every single lap of the race up to that point and was able to attack at the first opportunity. Lando Norris may not quite have had the pace, especially given his poor start, but Sainz was a genuine threat.
Indeed.
weezer
9th April 2019, 12:51
Sainz did the same in Baku last year (first stint) then in a Renault on Verstappen in the RBR. This year, especially in Bahrein with its 3DRS assisted straights (out of 4) with these wider wings you are almost unable to defend against an attack. Even if Sainz would have made the pass Verstappen would have been able to DRS attack right back in the next laps. Ultimately both guys tires would have been gone and someone would have to give up. I think even in last race the RBR (in the hands of Verstappen) had better pace.
Jere (@jerejj)
9th April 2019, 9:36
Yes, but they still need to sort out some things on the chassis, as well as, the set-up/balance side, and then included to that, Gasly needs to start reaching Q3.
Manuel Falcao (@mfalcao)
9th April 2019, 10:07
They are quite a bit ahead of midfield indeed. They do have serious problems with soft tire management, and that’s mostly some chassis design flaw.
As Horner sais this his not engine related, they are not able to use the engine at max settings, because of balance issues.
Its quite telling that Gasly last year in a quite basic Toro Rosso, with a much worse Honda engine was 2 tenths faster than in Red Bull. That just says that it’s quite clearly something related to balance issues with the car.
Until they can resolve this balance issue they cannot test the engine to the max.
Nickkk
9th April 2019, 10:21
Are you sure about that? I’ve never heard of such a thing.
Manuel Falcao (@mfalcao)
9th April 2019, 19:00
They have said it themselves, they can’t apply full throttle because of wheel spin that leads to overheating tires at corner exit, that leaves them as a big disadvantage in the straits, in Bahrain. Toro Rosso was much better then red bull on speed traps in Bahrein. That’s proof that the engine is not there main problem, this is something they have said since preseason testing.
nase
9th April 2019, 19:09
Can’t use best engine settings because wheelspin? That is a sizeable load of bull.
Nickkk
9th April 2019, 21:27
OK thanks. I’m not following F1 as closely as I used to these days now it’s all paywalled off.
Presumably then it is fair to say then that they are in the same situation as Williams. Great engine. Chassis limitations. ;-)
I like Red Bull. I want to see a competitive season. I hope they can sort it out.
digitalrurouni
9th April 2019, 13:17
I believe they have said they have identified their issue and by Spain those issues would be resolved. I look forward to a charging Red Bull. Would give Merc and Fezza something else to think about. But Gasly has been an utter disappointment. He needs to step on the Gas…ba dum tiss.
hamiledon
9th April 2019, 13:20
It seems they have already accepted the third place, they are satisfied with the difference with the middle group.
F1oSaurus (@)
9th April 2019, 17:58
There is “Trackside Performance Analysis: Bahrain’s Turn 11” video on the F1 site which shows Red Bull was fastest though that turn 162kph for both Red Bull’s and 157/158kph for Vettel and Bottas.
Wich would indicate that either RB had more downforce on (causing the slower top speeds) or their engine is much more underpowered than they are letting on.