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Max Verstappen felt their nil score despite having a competitive car in the race was a painful result to stomach. The reigning champion explained that he suffered from multiple problems during the race, including balance and steering wheel problems before the retirement from the Bahrain GP.
Summarizing the disappointment, the Red Bull champion said:
“I think at the end what is the biggest problem is that we scored zero points with a competitive car. And of course on the days when you have tiny issues or you’re not entirely happy with the balance, you have to consolidate and score points and what we did today is of course extremely painful.”
According to the Red Bull driver, despite minor issues, collecting valuable points was important in the season opener. The team’s double retirement with a competitive car, however, made the result even more painful to digest.
Describing the multitude of issues, Max Verstappen said:
“I mean, what happened at the end is obviously very frustrating, but of course before that, quite a few issues. First of all the balance was off. I didn’t have the same feeling as on Friday on the long runs, so that was a bit disappointing. Then suddenly my steering, I don’t know what happened to that, it was just completely locked and the faster I was going, I could barely steer. And then suddenly I had to retire, everything just switched off.”
While Red Bull did not seem to struggle in practice sessions throughout the weekend, their struggles during the race were surprising. The Dutchman had complained about his steering issues over the radio, to which he explained that the steering wheel locked up whenever he increased his speed. In the penultimate moments of the race, his final troubles began when the car started to shut down, according to the Red Bull driver’s explanation.
Max Verstappen believes his retirement was caused by a fuel pump issue
Max Verstappen revealed the potential cause for his retirement from the race to a possible fuel pump issue. According to the Dutchman, there was no supply of fuel to the engine of his car during the closing laps of the race.
Explaining the cause of his retirement, the Dutch driver said:
“It looked like a fuel pump or issue, there was no fuel coming to the engine. Of course these things, you don’t want them to happen and it’s very painful for the team as well that both cars retired. We need to look into everything.”
The 24-year-old world champion was disappointed with the multitude of issues with his performance. With no signs of reliability concerns during the preseason tests or in the practice sessions, the implosion towards the end of the race surprised many and has been a disappointing start for the team.
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