"We have to do better if we want to fight for the title" - Max Verstappen on the reliability issue that caused Red Bull's double DNF in Bahrain

Max Verstappen has confirmed that Red Bull needs to do better than their showing at the 2022 F1 Bahrain GP if they are to compete for the World Championships this season.

Three out of the four cars that run on the power units being assembled in the newly-created Red Bull Powertrains division failed to complete the race. AlphaTauri's Pierre Gasly was the first to retire after his car caught fire. In a dramatic turn of events, both Red Bull's also suffered from reliability issues that saw their race derailed in the closing stages.

Speaking to the media at a pre-race press conference for drivers ahead of the 2022 F1 Saudi Arabian GP, the defending world champion had some stern words for his team. Max Verstappen said:

“We didn’t encounter it in testing so we didn’t know about it at all and I don’t know how we would have spotted it but you can say, in a way, it’s a bit unlucky, but it shouldn’t happen. It’s as simple as that. because to retire, basically three cars, was pretty bad. I mean there is no way around that and we have to do better if we want to fight for the title you cannot have too many races like we had in Bahrain.”

Red Bull looked certain to leave Sakhir with a solid haul of points, second only to Ferrari. Eventually, though, they walked away empty-handed with redemption in Jeddah on their mind.

---

Pierre Gasly also in agreement with Max Verstappen over Red Bull's reliability issues in Bahrain GP

Max Verstappen's former Red Bull teammate Pierre Gasly agreed with him about his comments on Red Bull's reliability issues in Bahrain.

When asked to share his opinion on the disappointing race weekend at the Sakhir Circuit last week, the Frenchman said:

“Similar comment. I think we had the cleanest testing of all the years I have done with that team. We came into the first race quite confident in terms of reliability but I must say, motorsports keeps you very humble all the time because these things happen, and it’s obviously painful. On our side, there was no sign that this was going to happen. But obviously, it should not happen, we lost quite a lot of points and it was clearly not the ideal start to the season. It was a different problem with Max [Verstappen] and Checo [Sergio Perez] but clearly things that we need to sort out and not have in the future.”

Red Bull and their sister team AlphaTauri will be hoping for a better showing around the Jeddah Corniche Circuit this weekend when the 2022 F1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix is held on Sunday, March 27.