With just ten days to go until the court session following Daniel Ricciardo’s disqualification at Melbourne, there is optimism at Red Bull Racing. Following Sebastian Vettel’s superb podium last week in the Malaysia Grand Prix, where he not only split the almost invincible Mercedes in qualifying, but kept up with one in the race, and where Ricciardo was on for a very strong 4th place, we now know where Red Bull stand compared to the Silver Arrows.
Following the fuel-flow sensor issues in Australia, Red Bull had further issues with Ricciardo’s sensor failing during the race in Malaysia. It has since emerged that 96% of all fuel-flow sensor issues so far this year have either been on a Red Bull, a Toro Rosso or a Lotus, all of which are powered by Renault powertrains, and all of which use Total petrol.
In terms of downforce, which is what makes the cars quick in the high speed sections, the Red Bull and the Mercedes are virtually on par with one another. Red Bull, headed by legendary racing car designer Adrian Newey, has been virtually unstoppable on high downforce circuits over the last five seasons. You need to look at straight-line speed and in the engine department for where Red Bull lacks compared to its rivals. Today in practice for this weekend’s Bahrain Grand prix, Red Bull were up to 10km/h slower in the speed traps compared to the Williams cars. This is due to the Renault powertrain being apparently 80bhp down compared to the Mercedes powertrain which powers the Williams and also McLaren and Force India. To compensate for this, Red Bull have experimented today with running lower downforce setups in an attempt to try and find some straight-line speed, which could prove very important in the race, and especially for Ricciardo.
Ricciardo has a 10-place grid penalty following his unsafe release in Malaysia, where his team let him go with only three wheels attached. He also suffered a front wing failure during the race which caused a puncture and in addition to the grid drop, had a 10-second stop and go penalty too. Ricciardo’s luck so far at Red Bull has been highly reminiscent of his predecessor, Mark Webber’s torrid luck in F1 over his career. So Red Bull may try and run a different setup completely and also perhaps a different tyre strategy to maximise the car’s potential. It looks good, even though it arguably doesn’t suit this track as much as it did Malaysia.
Sebastian Vettel has won the last two races here ahead of the Lotuses of Kimi Raikkonen and Romain Grosjean. I wouldn’t put money on an identical podium for three years running (whether it’s the same drivers or a Red Bull and two Lotuses) but Red Bull, with Vettel at least are in with a shout of another podium this weekend. Mercedes were one whole second ahead in free practice this evening but Red Bull and five other teams were all within half a second of each other when looking at P3’s (Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso) time.
In terms of championship standings, although it is still very early in the season, Red Bull are only 6th, with Vettel’s 3rd at Malaysia the only points scored. This could change following the appeal a week on Monday. Vettel is currently 7th in the driver’s standings and Ricciardo dead last with a DSQ and a DNF.
Vettel’s record around this circuit is very good. Two poles, two wins. He could have won three here but a sparkplug failed back in 2010. He also had a strong 2nd here in 2009 behind the Brawn car of Jenson Button. Daniel Ricciardo is yet to finish higher than 15th here, but should the car allow him to, I am sure he will achieve that this weekend. Some points for him would be a massive boost following two strong but ultimately disappointing weekends for the Aussie.
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