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Red Bull have had a rocky start to the 2022 season with a total of three DNFs so far and currently stand third in the constructors' standings behind Ferrari and Mercedes. The Australian Grand Prix last weekend was a particularly difficult Sunday for the team as Max Verstappen suffered yet another reliability issue. This cost the team significant points while Ferrari took an even larger lead in the championship.
As reported by Inside Sport, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner admitted that their car was nowhere close in performance to that of Ferrari. The Briton said:
“We’re just about 10 percent of the way into the championship. So I think there’s still a huge amount to go. The encouraging thing is we’ve got the basis of a quick car. Ferrari was out of reach on Sunday.”
Emphasizing what went on behind the perfect weekend for Charles Leclerc in his Ferrari, he added, saying:
“Their window that they were in with their tyre, you could just see they weren’t experiencing the problems either through blistering that some of the cars were experiencing, or graining that we experienced. They were just in a happier place, which tends to happen when your balance is more settled.”
Red Bull have a nearly 50-point deficit against Ferrari in the constructors' standings. The reigning world champion and Red Bull driver Verstappen is currently placed sixth in the drivers' championship after two disastrous weekends this year.
"We were guaranteed second place" - Red Bull team boss compares performance to Ferrari
While Ferrari have a visible upper hand over the rest of the teams this season so far, Red Bull are a clear second in terms of pace. The Milton Keynes-based team are struggling with reliability, as a result of which they are currently also behind Mercedes.
Team principal Christian Horner, however, is certain that their second-place finish is guaranteed even after Melbourne. He said:
“We’ve seen it across the two teams, a few issues. They’ve all been independent, none of them have been related. We obviously need to understand those and address them quickly. Because even on a day that we weren’t as quick as Ferrari we were guaranteed second place. In the first few races, for Max, we’ve given up 36 points. And for the team, we’ve given up 50 points. When you look at that, both the Drivers’ and Constructors’ Championship would be a lot different.”
Given that there are still twenty races to go, Horner is still hopeful of catching up soon to challenge the Prancing Horse for the world championship title. He said:
“But there’s still a huge percentage of the championship still to run but we need to get on top of these issues quickly.”
This essentially indicates that the team simply needs to put in their hours to make their already fast car more reliable.
