Tanabe: 'We have the data and are going to investigate reliability issues'

Mixed feelings will prevail at both Red Bull Racing and AlphaTauri. Although the results of the Bahrain Grand Prix are relatively good for both teams, both racing outfits had to deal with technical problems as well.

Toyoharu Tanabe, technical director at Honda, reflects on the Sakhir Grand Prix as follows: "Max started from pole and led for many laps, which is a very positive start to the season, although it’s a shame he missed the win by so little. In the end, the gap was very close and the result was really down to the different strategies between Red Bull Racing Honda and the winner."

"Unfortunately, Sergio suffered an electrical shut-down on the formation lap and we will now examine the chassis and PU side to find out exactly what happened. He was able to get the car started again and then drove a very strong race, going from a pit lane start to fifth place at the flag", said Tanabe.

AlphaTauri

The technical director also explains the race of Pierre Gasly, who saw the benefit of his handsome qualifying disappear after losing his front wing. Tanabe: "For Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda, Yuki had a very good F1 debut, with several overtaking moves resulting in a points finish in ninth place. 

"Pierre was never really able to recover from the first lap incident which meant he had to pit for a new front wing. However, he and his team-mate were quick all weekend and we hope they can do well at the next round in Imola, which is their home race."

"We will now study all the data carefully to see where we can improve and also to look at the reliability issues we experienced over the weekend", Tanabe concluded. Plenty of work to be done, it seems.