'Red Bull Racing has sent Verstappen's engine to Japan'

Red Bull Racing has already fallen well behind Ferrari due to unexpected problems in the first races of the season. Or, as Michael Schmidt says at Auto, Motor und Sport: "The championship train has left without Red Bull." The team's hopes are now pinned on the updates it will bring to Imola.

After the exciting battles between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen in the first two races, a duel was again expected. However, a direct duel did not occur in the Australian Grand Prix. Long before Verstappen was forced to park his RB18 alongside the track it became painfully clear that Ferrari had things in better order.

Verstappen power unit sent to Honda

Helmut Marko had already hinted that Red Bull was suffering much more from graining than other teams. According to Schmidt that was one of the reasons why Leclerc's Ferrari was unreachable for Verstappen. Especially on the medium tire the Dutchman had a hard time.

Initially Red Bull claimed that it was a fuel-related problem and that the problem was not in the power unit, but possibly that was too premature. "They have sent the engine to Japan," says Schmidt. "That's where they're going to see if it's broken."

With the updates planned for Imola, Schmidt says Red Bull hopes to take a big step, similar to the last day of testing in Bahrain. "There they won two seconds and had solved porpoising in one go," he continues. Ferrari, on the other hand, is said to have no updates planned yet.