Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko believes the issue that caused Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez to retire in Bahrain should be fixed in time for this weekend in Saudi Arabia.
Verstappen first complained of a steering issue behind the wheel of his car as he found it got ‘stuck’ while he tried to turn in high-speed corners, but his Red Bull later stopped working completely – and he was forced to trundle back to his garage and retire.
Perez suffered the same issue as his team-mate with his engine cutting out completely at the start of the final lap, which sent him into a spin while defending from Lewis Hamilton at Turn 1.
Despite claims after the race that the Red Bull cars had simply run out of fuel in the race, a report from Motorsport.com claims team insiders have rubbished that idea – given the fuel both drivers would have been able to save behind the Safety Car while not running at full capacity.
Up next ➡️ A return to the Jeddah Corniche #SaudiArabianGP pic.twitter.com/91GcKUpJLF
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 23, 2022
But Marko was able to clarify the problem inside the engine exactly – and believes the cars will run as expected in Jeddah this weekend.
Speaking to F1 Insider, Marko said: “To put it simply, a vacuum in the fuel supply system caused the engine to run out of fuel. I think we can solve the problem already in Saudi Arabia this weekend.
“Without giving exact figures, there was still enough fuel in the tanks of both cars.
“Basically, we were fast enough. We were just not able to use our potential at the decisive moment. In Saudi Arabia we will be back at full speed and fight for victory.”
It was not an ideal first outing for Red Bull Powertrains at the weekend, with three of their four cars not finishing the race in Bahrain after Pierre Gasly retired with a fire that left the AlphaTauri driver comparing the scene to a “barbecue” at the back of the AT03.
The power unit supply project for Red Bull is still in its early stages, but they are being helped significantly by their former Honda colleagues in making the transition.
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