Red Bull and defending World Champion Max Verstappen had an unforgettable season opener at 2022 Bahrain GP. Max Verstappen and teammate Sergio Perez were forced to retire from the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix after suffering from suspected fuel pump issues.
For most of the race, Max was within 3 seconds of race leader Charles Leclerc of Ferrari and when the safety car was released after a fire halted the progress of AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly on lap 44, the field bunched and Max was presented with a chance to attack.
However, following his final pit stop of the race, Max had complained of a worsening issue with heavy steering and when the safety car left the track his problems were compounded as he reported he felt that he was also losing battery power.
The pit wall informed him that it was not a battery issue, but the champion continued to lose ground. On lap 55 he slowed dramatically and the field swept past as he limped to the pit lane to retire. That left the hopes of the Team in the hands of Sergio Perez, and initially, the Mexican driver was able to hold P3 behind the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz and hold off Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton.
But then with just two laps to go Checo radioed the Team saying he was losing power. Hamilton closed on and at the start of the final lap, Checo spun, in turn one, which saw Hamilton power past and the Team suffered its first double DNF since the 2020 Austrian Grand Prix.
Max Verstappen (DNF)
“We were feeling quite competitive throughout the weekend so the result today was very unfortunate for us. The problems started initially with the brakes, they were overheating so I had to lift off and as a result, I lost pace and had to let Charles go. After that, there were still a few issues with car balance and after my final pit stop my steering wheel was locked.
That made it very difficult to drive so defending from Carlos at the re-start wasn’t easy. The final issue looked like a fuel system problem, which is why I had to retire and it was extremely painful for both our cars to DNF. We don’t know exactly what went wrong yet but we’ll definitely analyze the data and make sure we learn from it. At the end of the day, motorsport is unpredictable and these things can happen, this is race one, we have plenty more ahead of us.”
Sergio Perez (DNF)
“It was going to be a great start to the season but unfortunately, we didn’t manage to get the result we were hoping for. It is very disappointing to not be able to execute the result we wanted; we had the podium in our pocket until the last lap. A couple of laps before the end I could feel I was losing power, we knew there was an issue and we knew what had happened with Max.
I had a similar issue to his car, at the moment we think it was a fuel system problem and basically the engine just stopped. It is tough to digest but we are going to look for the positives and come back stronger next week in Jeddah. I am sure we will get to the bottom of the problem, we are a great Team and I really believe in them. Today is very disappointing and an unfortunate start to our season but a year is a long time in Formula 1 and we’re only one race in.”
Christian Horner, Team Principal
“Obviously we are hugely disappointed to lose the chance of podium finishes today, but congratulations to Ferrari on their one, two finish and a return to the front. We will need to conduct a full investigation into what happened, but it looks suspiciously like the failures are related to each other and it may be an issue with the fuel system.
The positive side for us is that we clearly have a competitive car, I don’t think we quite had the pace today, but there was some great racing between Max and Charles. It’s an incredibly long season with 22 races remaining, so we need to get on top of whatever this issue was today and come back stronger next weekend.”
