Amidst the searing heat of Bahrain, Red Bull found themselves grappling with unexpected challenges on the track. While last week’s victory in Japan felt like a distant memory, the team confronted a peculiar issue with their tires during Friday’s practice sessions.
Helmut Marko, Red Bull’s advisor, candidly admitted that the team’s performance was less than stellar, describing the RB21 as ‘simply too slow.’ The culprit behind their struggles seemed to be the combination of the Bahrain track and the soaring temperatures exceeding 40 degrees Celsius. These conditions played havoc with the tire temperatures, causing them to heat up excessively.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull’s star driver, clocked in at seventh place during the day’s practice, trailing McLaren’s Oscar Piastri by over eight-tenths of a second. His teammate, Yuki Tsunoda, found himself further behind in 18th place. This was a stark contrast to their dominance in Suzuka, Japan, where Verstappen had emerged victorious.
Marko provided insight into the peculiar behavior of their tires, noting that at certain points, the tires surprisingly regained performance. ‘Strangely enough,’ Marko observed, ‘the tire recovered, and we were doing the same lap times as Lando [Norris], but that was only three or four out of 50 laps.’ The main issue remained uncontrollable tire temperatures, leading to significant sliding, which only exacerbated their difficulties.
Despite this, Marko expressed optimism that they could replicate their turnaround from the previous week. He remained hopeful that adjustments and strategic changes could elevate their performance for Saturday’s sessions. He remarked, ‘We will change like we did in Japan, and hopefully, we get this golden mixture of setup changes so that we are more competitive.’
Yuki Tsunoda’s performance, though lagging behind Verstappen, did not worry Marko, who attributed Tsunoda’s timings to him trying out different setups. The expectation was that Tsunoda would show improved speed in the forthcoming sessions.
Red Bull’s weekend at the Bahrain Grand Prix began with unexpected challenges as they navigated through tire temperature issues. However, with prior experience of making successful adjustments, the team remained hopeful of turning around their fortunes, just as they had in Japan. The coming days would reveal if they could overcome the heat and regain their competitive edge.
