"It clearly wasn't as plain sailing for Red Bull as it looked": F1 pundit reveals concerns for the Austrian team in Bahrain

F1 pundit and commentator Martin Brundle recently spoke about how Red Bull's dominant weekend at the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP was not entirely faultless. Even the reigning world champions have had some minor issues that could have turned into major ones.

In a piece written by Brundle for Sky Sports, he stated that a few important members of the Austrian team explained to him that their cars did not sail smoothly in the race. During parc ferme, new oil inlet pipes were installed on both cars, and they also faced transmission issues during the race.

The British commentator wrote:

"Talking to a couple of key people after the race it clearly wasn't as plain sailing for Red Bull as it looked. Both the cars had new oil inlet pipes fitted in parc ferme, and in the race they were managing critical transmission issues on both cars."

Despite having these minor issues, Max Verstappen was easily able to stay in front and win the race by several seconds ahead of the pack. Sergio Perez was also around 10 seconds ahead of Fernando Alonso and drove brilliantly. Brundle added:

"But whichever way you cut it Verstappen was cruising out front and it's not difficult to believe he could easily have been 10 seconds further up the road if required. Maybe much more."

It was the first one-two finish for the Austrian team since the 2013 F1 Abu Dhabi GP, which was quite surprising for Martin Brundle considering how quick they have been over the past two years. He penned:

"It was the first time Red Bull have been one-two on the grid and then finished one-two in the race since Abu Dhabi 2013, so basically the first time in the hybrid power unit era, which started in 2014. Surprising really, given their relative dominance last year too."

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George Russell believes Red Bull will 'win every single race' and the championship

Though the Bahrain GP was only the first race of the season, George Russell has already crowned Red Bull as the champions this season. Mercedes are still struggling quite a bit, and both Russell and Lewis Hamilton are unable to squeeze enough performance out of the W14. Moreover, other teams also look miles behind the Austrian team. Speaking to PlanetF1, Russell said:

“Red Bull has got this championship sewn up, I don’t think anyone is going to be fighting with them this year. I expect them to win, they should win every single race this season, that’s my bet. I’d say so because with the performance they’ve got, I don’t see anyone challenging them."