If you watched today’s Bahrain Grand Prix, you might still be in shock at how it ended for Red Bull Racing. Though Ferrari dominated this weekend, ending in first and second place finishes, the Austrian team gave them a run for their money – until they couldn’t.
Technical issues, combined with errors made by the team, ended up ruining what could’ve been a podium finish for them.
Red Bull fans all over the world are shocked and disappointed following the Bahrain GP, but Mercedes fans seem to be loving it. The 2021 championship win was highly criticized, and the first race of the season ended in zero points for the whole team. This is not a good start for any Formula 1 team, and especially not for the team with the reigning Drivers’ Championship winners in their ranks.
It doesn’t help that Ferrari has unexpectedly come out dominating this first race weekend; they took a 1-3 in qualifying and ended the weekend with a 1-2 finish. They could easily go on to dominate the grid throughout the season. No one knows what the rest of the season holds, but for right now, Ferrari is on top.
However, Red Bull’s Bahrain GP result isn’t solely because Ferrari came out with guns a-blazing – the Austrian team is to blame, too.
How Red Bull went from a podium finish to double DNFs in Bahrain
Overtaking right before the DRS zone
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc leading Red Bulls’ Max Verstappen in Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix. (Image via Clive Mason/Getty Images)
The Drag Reduction System (DRS) allows a driver to significantly increase speed and overtake the car in front of them. However, this can only be done while in a DRS zone, and only if the distance between the two cars is less than 1 second.
Red Bull’s Max Verstappen made the mistake of overtaking Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc directly before the DRS zone. This allowed the Monegasque to easily overtake him, making his efforts for naught. What is surprising is that Verstappen made this mistake not once, but twice. At two crucial points in the Grand Prix, Verstappen overtook Leclerc, only for the latter to retake the lead moments later and ultimately win the race.
Terribly-timed pit stops
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<p>The problem was not necessarily that Red Bull’s pit stops were timed badly, they just did not seem to be paying any attention to Ferrari’s pit stops. Again, not once but twice during the race, a Ferrari pitted and was able to rejoin the race directly in front of Verstappen.</p>
<p>During this time, Max was told by his team to work on preserving his tires. It is not entirely clear who’s fault it was, but the Dutchman seemed to blame his team over the radio. Had they timed Ferrari’s stop correctly, he could have forced Leclerc behind him after exiting the pit lane and worked on maintaining the lead instead of having to overtake to win it – which in the end, he could not.</p>
<h3>Mysterious engine trouble</h3>
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