GPI 2017 Russian Grand Prix | Page 142

WHERE WERE THE RED BULLS/ W here were Red Bull at the Russian Grand Prix? Nowhere, relative to the pace setting Ferrari and Mercedes teams, as they endured one of their most insignificant performances in a long time. Second in the 2016 F1 World Championship for constructors’, this year they are a distant third in the pecking order and hinging all their hopes on Barcelona when they expect a hefty Renault upgrade and some magic from Adrian Newey’s drawing board. Reflecting on the weekend in Russia, where Max Verstappen finished fifth and Daniel Ricciardo had a DNF, team chief Christian Horner said, “It was a real disappointment to lose Daniel early in the race with a right rear brake issue, straight after the safety car restart.” “We need to understand exactly what the cause of failure was; the outcome was similar to that which happened with Max in Bahrain but it looks like a different issue, so that needs thorough exploration.” “Max drove a strong race, he had a good start but then he was in only racing himself in no man’s land; putting a significant gap to the cars behind but not being able to keep up with the cars ahead.” “So, at a circuit that we know doesn’t play to our strengths at least we got to our optimum with Max and hopefully in Barcelona we can start making progress,” added Horner.