Red Bull reveals cause of Bahrain F1 double DNF, has fix in place

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez both appeared to be on for a podium finish in Bahrain until their cars suffered a sudden and dramatic loss of power.

Verstappen was forced to retire three laps from the end after challenging Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for the win for much of the race, while Perez spun out of third place at Turn 1 on the final lap when his car switched off. 

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After the race, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner suggested that both problems were related to the fuel pumps in the car and insisted that a fix would be put in place ahead of the second round of the season in Saudi Arabia this weekend. 

On Friday, Red Bull released a statement confirming the cause of the failures and said it is confident of avoiding a repeat in Jeddah.

“Both cars suffered from a lack of fuel pressure last weekend,” a Red Bull spokesperson said. 

“The correct amount of fuel was in both cars, but a vacuum prevented the pumps from drawing fuel and delivering it to the engine. 

“We’ve taken the necessary steps to correct this issue and we expect no problems this weekend.”

The double retirement leaves Red Bull with zero points after the opening round of the 2022 F1 season, while rivals Ferrari and Mercedes scored 44 and 27 points respectively.