Red Bull's mistakes at Bahrain Grand Prix 2022

If you watched today's Bahrain Grand Prix, you might still be in shock at how it ended for Red Bull Racing. Though Ferrari dominated this weekend, ending in first and second place finishes, the Austrian team gave them a run for their money - until they couldn't.

Technical issues, combined with errors made by the team, ended up ruining what could've been a podium finish for them.

Red Bull fans all over the world are shocked and disappointed following the Bahrain GP, but Mercedes fans seem to be loving it. The 2021 championship win was highly criticized, and the first race of the season ended in zero points for the whole team. This is not a good start for any Formula 1 team, and especially not for the team with the reigning Drivers' Championship winner in their ranks.

It doesn't help that Ferrari has unexpectedly come out dominating this first race weekend; they took a 1-3 in qualifying and ended the weekend with a 1-2 finish. They could easily go on to dominate the grid throughout the season. No one knows what the rest of the season holds, but for right now, Ferrari is on top.

However, Red Bull's Bahrain GP result isn't solely because Ferrari came out with guns a-blazing - the Austrian team is to blame, too.

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How Red Bull went from a podium finish to double DNFs in Bahrain

Overtaking right before the DRS zone

Ferrari's Charles Leclerc leading Red Bulls' Max Verstappen in Formula 1 Bahrain Grand Prix. (Image via Clive Mason/Getty Images)

The Drag Reduction System (DRS) allows a driver to significantly increase speed and overtake the car in front of them. However, this can only be done while in a DRS zone, and only if the distance between the two cars is less than 1 second.

Red Bull's Max Verstappen made the mistake of overtaking Ferrari's Charles Leclerc directly before the DRS zone. This allowed the Monegasque to easily overtake him, making his efforts for naught. What is surprising is that Verstappen made this mistake not once, but twice. At two crucial points in the Grand Prix, Verstappen overtook Leclerc, only for the latter to retake the lead moments later and ultimately win the race.

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Terribly-timed pit stops

Red Bull's Max Verstappen missing opportunity to overtake Ferrari's Charles Leclerc as he exits pit lane at 2022 Bahrain Formula 1 Grand Prix (Image via Mark Thompson/Getty Images)

The problem was not necessarily that Red Bull's pit stops were timed badly, they just did not seem to be paying any attention to Ferrari's pit stops. Again, not once but twice during the race, a Ferrari pitted and was able to rejoin the race directly in front of Verstappen.

During this time, Max was told by his team to work on preserving his tires. It is not entirely clear who's fault it was, but the Dutchman seemed to blame his team over the radio. Had they timed Ferrari's stop correctly, he could have forced Leclerc behind him after exiting the pit lane and worked on maintaining the lead instead of having to overtake to win it - which in the end, he could not.

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Mysterious engine trouble

Red Bull Racing (Image via Getty Images)

The Raging Bulls seemed to have good pace throughout this weekend, even during the main race. They were securely second and fourth for most of the weekend.

However, during the 55th lap of a 57-lap race, Verstappen complained to his team that the engine was failing. They responded over the radio saying it looked fine to them. It was clearly not fine; Verstappen was forced to retire and did not finish the race.

Even more surprisingly, on the very last lap of the race, with Hamilton closely behind, Sergio Perez locked-up in a turn and spun to a stop, blocking the inside line of the turn. Hamilton was able to safely pass and take third place. Perez blamed the lock-up on engine failure in a radio message to his team. He did not finish the race either.

Red Bull will surely be hard at work repairing the engine problems, as well as their strategy, in time for the next race.

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Also Check Out: F1 2022 Results