Red Bull principal Christian Horner revealed that a DRS problem cost Max Verstappen during Q3 at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Verstappen was on provisional pole in Barcelona, rival Charles Leclerc suffering a spin on his first flying lap, but the tables would soon turn.
Leclerc delivered a stonking lap on his second attempt to strike back, but Verstappen was robbed of the chance to respond, complaining of a loss of power as Red Bull called him back into the pits.
Horner revealed that it was an issue with the DRS which had impacted Verstappen, though doubted that there was a time in the RB18 which could have threatened Leclerc.
“It wasn’t actually power in the end, it was the DRS that didn’t open,” Horner revealed to Sky F1.
“So obviously need to get the car back to understand what’s caused that, because it opened on the back straight just as a check on his way back into the pits.
“I don’t think we had enough today to beat that lap of Charles, a great lap by him under pressure at the end, but I’m still pleased with a front-row start.”
Sharing the front row for the fourth time in 2022 🤝 #SpanishGP 🇪🇸 pic.twitter.com/gax4AzOJVQ
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) May 21, 2022
Reliability has undoubtedly been Red Bull’s Achilles’ heel in these early stages of the 2022 campaign, but while such problems have seemed to hit Red Bull at the worst of times, Horner pointed out that Ferrari also have had issues in Spain.
The Scuderia were forced to change Sainz’s chassis on Friday night due to a fuel system issue.
“These things are tending to happen, we saw Ferrari change the chassis last night because of a fuel system issue,” said Horner.
“Unfortunately they’ve hit us at inconvenient times, the last time you want it is on the last run in Q3.
“But as a team we work hard, we try and understand what the issue is, it may be as simple as a piece of rubber’s got stuck in the mechanism.
“Unfortunate not to have the right of…
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