Red Bull has explained the problem with its equipment that was the likely cause of the lengthy pitstops that heaped further misery on Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda in Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix.
On a day that Verstappen summarised as “everything went wrong that could go wrong” thanks to a combination of brake problems, overheating tyres and balance issues, the Dutchman’s plight was further hurt by slow tyre changes as he did his best to finish sixth.
Both Red Bull drivers were delayed after the team’s traffic light system that alerts them to leave the pits failed – delaying their exit by several seconds.
With the problem having initially flared up at Verstappen’s first pitstop, the team thought that it was finger trouble with the button that releases the drivers – so did not change procedures when Tsunoda stopped shortly after.
Red Bull team principal Christian Horner explained: “Max came in the first stop and the light didn't [do anything]. Of course, it's a very simple system and we expected it [might be] that maybe the button hadn't been pressed hard enough by one of the technicians.
“The next pitstop was within one minute, and then it happened again. So at that point we went into a manual override on the system and the chief mechanics released the car.”
Asked about what the root cause of the issue was, Horner added: “I've just heard that there was some kind of wiring or electrical issue with the gantry. It's one I certainly haven't seen before.
“The drivers live by those traffic lights and the actual stops were pretty good; one of them was a two-second stop. But then the driver's waiting for the lights and then obviously it didn't go out.
“Everything's gone into quarantine and we'll have a good look at it.”
Verstappen’s frustrations with the pitstops also increased after he had a slow second stop, when the right front wheel gun failed to engage the first time. This triggered a 6.2-second stop.
Bahrain woes
The pitstop problems only added to the troubles for Red Bull on a weekend where the weaknesses of the RB21 were exposed.
As Verstappen said: “Not good of course when you are waiting for so long, and two separate problems. Not to our standard.”
The world champion, who had arrived in Bahrain fresh from his victory in the Japanese Grand Prix, reckoned that his result was the best that could be achieved – considering the problems that RB21 faces.
“The big problem is the pace that we have,” he said. “Basically tyre management and balance. Those are my main problems.
“I just feel like we are even worse on tyres somehow this year. Basically just very complicated.
“Last year we were not too bad around here. Of course then people made improvements and we actually had a worse weekend than last year. Bit weird.”
Horner reckoned that all the elements of brakes, poor balance and pit stop deals coming together helped deliver a day he would rather forget.
“We've been struggling with two issues this weekend, one a braking issue, and secondly, just an imbalance,” he said.
“So when you have that then tyre deg, everything looks worse. On top of that, we've had a horrible day where we had what looks like a wiring loom issue in the pit gantry.”
