Helmut Marko of Red Bull said his crew is experiencing a “tough balancing act” as they try to solve their dependability and weight problems.
Red Bull’s Helmut Marko has conceded that the team will have a difficult time identifying and correcting its early-season troubles.
While Max Verstappen won in Saudi Arabia, he has withdrawn from the two remaining races. The Dutchman was ousted from 2nd spot in Australia owing to a suspected fuel system failure, after losing 2nd spot late in Bahrain.
The Red Bull manager discussed the issue, which meant Verstappen was already out of the race when it ended.
“It leaked petrol, but we don’t know where and how,” Marko told Sky Sport Germany, revealing that the issue is not a direct repeat of the fuel system error that occurred in Bahrain.
“It just leaked a lot of petrol. That’s why we said he should stop immediately – preferably where there is a fire extinguisher.”
Red Bull has a long way to go in resolving their issues
The weight of the RB18 has been a major stumbling block for Red Bull, as they have had to solve more reliability problems.
The car is thought to be many kilogrammes (some accounts say seven) over the 798kg minimum weight limit.
Red Bull has received reports on their progress toward this goal, and Marko noted that the challenges are eating into their season budget.
With a $140 million budget restriction in place, any additional spending to correct problems means money is being diverted away from possible developments.
“We don’t just have these reliability problems, which are actually largely unknown to us – we don’t know that at all,” he commented.
“The other thing is this weight problem. We’re well ahead (heavier) of Ferrari there. That’s a difficult balancing act, even with the cost cap.
“Difficult times are ahead of us. We were surprised at how fast Ferrari was today.”
Ferrari’s performance was lauded by Marko, who added: “They had to pay much less attention to the tyres than we did. Ferrari was in a class of its own and, unfortunately, we were clearly behind, even though [Sergio] Perez drove a great race.”
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