When the 2017 aero regulations were announced there was a general consensus in the paddock that if any one team was expected to benefit in taking the fight to Mercedes, it was Milton Keynes’ finest, Red Bull Racing. Few believed it would be Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Räikkönen who would be at the sharp end of the grid fighting and beating the Silver Arrows.
Now everything rests on Adrian Newey’s RB13 'b' upgrade set to be unveiled next week at Barcelona and team principal Christian Horner is concerned, especially after the team’s rather uninspiring performance in Russia last weekend.
"Obviously we've given ourselves a lot to do, but the whole team is focused on that. Hopefully from the next race we can start making progress."
Fans at home would have scarcely realised that there was even a Red Bull in the top ten but Max Verstappen did cross the line in fifth, albeit 24s behind fourth placed Lewis Hamilton. Despite this Horner was happy with the result.
"I think that was actually our best result here in Sochi since we've been coming here since 2014. It's a very power-sensitive circuit and hopefully with what we've got coming for the next grand prix will help move our competitiveness forward."
Daniel Ricciardo meanwhile retired from the race on lap 5 with a rear brake failure. So for a second time in two races Red Bull lost a car due to brake issues and the paddock was denied the chance to see the Australian fight for a place on the podium to renew his 2016 shoey exploits.
"Obviously we've got a bunch of bits at the moment, so there needs to be a full investigation as to what caused the issue,” added Horner. “Was it a touch at the second turn? Was it something else? Because obviously after the restart immediately the components failed.
"Everything before that seemed under control so it was an absolute sudden failure. It looks like a different failure [to Verstappen in Bahrain]. Obviously the outcome is similar but it looks like a different failure. We're obviously having to investigate exactly what happened."
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