“I don’t think the car is particularly fragile” :Christian Horner snubs fragility fears of the RB18
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Christian Horner
The Miami Grand Prix saw a very difficult start for Austrian-based racing team Red Bull as current world champion Max Verstappen had to miss out on most of the practice session on Friday due to a hydraulic issue. It wasn’t long until Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez had to deal with a power unit issue on his end too.
The reason behind these concerns is a poor start to the season for Red Bull. Red Bull saw a double retirement in the season opener at the Bahrain International Circuit followed by Verstappen’s second DNF at Albert Park in the Australian Grand Prix. Verstappen has won all the three races that he has finished this season but is still held off by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc who’s topping the drivers’ leaderboard with a 19 points margin.
However, assuaging apprehensions about underlying fragility, Red Bull’s team principal Christian Horner commented, “I don’t think the car is particularly fragile. I think there have been niggly things that you would normally have seen in pre-season testing that have only reared their head as we have got into the season so that has been frustrating.” He then went on to talk about how Red Bull is working closely with the HRC and hopefully it won’t be long before they solve these issues at hand.
Also Read: “We need another Mario,” Christian Horner emphasizes the importance of an American driver
“He would have probably even been P2” :Christian Horner on Sergio Perez in the Miami GP
Mexican driver Sergio Perez started pressing Carlos Sainz for 3rd position on newer medium tyres after sidestepping into the pits during a delayed safety car period, but his RB18 stalled in a linear fashion.
“He had an issue with a sensor on one of the cylinders. He lost a lot of track time, the guys managed to move the sensors around but he was down, probably, around 20 kilowatts of power as a result. Even with the advantage of the new tyres he had, he was around half a second off what the car was capable of in straight-line speed and without that, he would have probably even been P2,” said Horner on underlining the issues with Perez not securing a podium on Sunday at the Miami International Autodrome.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxrXcf7GFPo
However, Red Bull will look forward to securing a double podium in the upcoming Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and hopefully decreasing the gap in points between reigning world champion Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
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Rishika Saha
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