Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez went home empty-handed from the season opener in Bahrain, after both Red Bull cars struck technical issues within sight of the chequered flag. Verstappen, who had been a strong contender for the victory after keeping up the pressure on the leading Charles Leclerc throughout, suffered a failure that saw him slowly lose power before trundling to a near-halt out on track. Perez, starting the final lap, suffered a more instantaneous failure. Rounding Turn 1 on the final lap while holding onto the last podium place, his engine cut out entirely and he was powerless to prevent the rear from locking up as he spun into retirement.
Rumours spread about Red Bull's fuel loads
Rumours have abounded ever since the end of the race – did both Red Bulls have enough fuel on board their cars? If not, it would have been a miscalculation of tremendous proportions, given the Safety Car interruption that would have allowed for quite a bit of fuel saving. The official statement from the Red Bull camp is that the issues were linked to the fuel pumps within their power units. These are standardised parts across the entire grid, and are manufactured by Italian company Marelli.
Red Bull quickly refute the speculation
With Red Bull describing the issue as a "fuel pick-up problem", which could be seen as clever wording - after all, no fuel to pick up can cause a "fuel pick-up problem" - RacingNews365.com asked the team to address the rumours about their fuel loads. A Red Bull source dismissed the rumours entirely, and said the issue was squarely to do with the fuel system. After a race in which Verstappen's car appeared to fall apart, as he encountered a shopping list of issues with his brakes, steering system and the eventually terminal fuel system problem, Red Bull are carrying out extensive investigations before the second race of the season. F1 heads to Saudi Arabia this weekend, with reigning World Champion Verstappen already 26 points behind championship leader Leclerc.
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