Newey reveals: 'We had an unexpected problem during practice'

Adrian Newey looked back on the first race weekend with pride, although the team's dominance was by no means guaranteed. In the F1 Nation podcast the Red Bull Racing developer explains that an unexpected problem cropped up during practice.

Red Bull Racing took the maximum win at the opening race of the season in Bahrain. Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez effortlessly drove to the top steps of the podium without being challenged at all. But prior to the race, the team was anything but confident of achieving this result.

"I do have to admit that during the first practice session the laughter was a bit lost on us because we had a few little problems ," Newey explained. "In terms of reliability, there was an unexpected problem on Friday, which left us facing extra work. From the outside, things may have seemed smooth, but quite a lot was happening under the surface on Friday and Saturday."

Newey won't get ahead of himself just yet

Whatever the problem was, once qualifying started everything was resolved. Red Bull seems to have designed an incredibly dominant car this year, as the gap between Perez and Fernando Alonso was a whopping 26 seconds. Yet Newey is not yet willing to say that the team is in the best position this season.

"Based on this one race, everything seems to have worked pretty well," Newey acknowledges. "Although this circuit does have some quirks. So we have to be careful, keep both feet on the ground and keep pushing. But I have to admit that it is a relief that we won the first race."