The reigning world champion was running second at the Australian Grand Prix, behind reigning championship leader Charles Leclerc, when he was forced to retire due to a fuel system mishap in his car.
The Dutchman was about to score his second podium of the year in Melbourne after victory in Saudi Arabia, but on lap 39 his RB18 stalled. After the race, his team boss, Christian Horner , insisted that there was nothing to do with the problem that affected them in Bahrain, where it was the fuel tank that caused the withdrawal of both Red Bulls.
The fault in Albert Park was external to the fuel tank, and as such, it was the responsibility of Honda , and not the Austrian team. The broken parts were quarantined after testing and returned back to the factory located in Sakura.
“We have been working with our colleagues at HRC in Japan, they have found the problem and resolved it,” Horner told Sky F1 . “I think we have a solution for this weekend.”
“It was very unlucky, an item that I have done tens of thousands of kilometers without a problem and unfortunately it turned up at the wrong time in Australia,” the Englishman continued.
Asked by Motorsport.com if the issue was related to porpoising and the vibration it caused, he said: “No I don’t think so, further investigation has shown it to be something else, a fuel component issue. studied very closely and they have a solution.
Horner stressed that, after three retirements in six races, the team is determined to get a good result at Imola: “It’s an important weekend for us, there are a lot of points, and we want to make sure we’re there to take advantage of it” .
“We can’t allow the gap to grow again with respect to Ferrari, we do have to start reducing it instead of seeing it increase,” he continued.
Sergio Pérez, for his part, said that he was encouraged by the fact that between Red Bull and Honda they had been able to understand and address the problems: “What gives us hope is that we have understood and have been able to solve all the doubts and reliability issues.
“So from now on, let’s hope there are no more surprises, there may still be an unforeseen event, but we feel we have them under control,” he said. “That will be critical for us as a team to make sure that we are able to get the points that we are able to get race by race, because so far, it has been extremely painful.
