Red Bull must stop throwing 'huge points down the drain' in F1 title fight, says Webber

Red Bull need to rectify their reliability issues or risk falling too far away from ferrari to chanellenge for the Formula 1 championship, according to ex-driver Mark Webber.

The Milton Keynes-based squad have suffered three retirements in the opening three rounds of the season, with Max Verstappen losing a minimum of 36 points after retiring from second place due to mechanical failures in both the season opener in Bahrain and last weekends Australian Grand Prix.

That leaves the current world champion a lowly sixth in the drivers’ standings, behind both George Russell and Lewis Hamilton, whose Mercedes’ car is nowhere near as fast as the Red Bull as things stand. Verstappen is is a whopping 46 points behind early leader Charles Leclerc, who has won two races and finished second once in the opening three events.

45-year-old Webber, who won nine races with Red Bull between 2007 and 2013, says that having a fast car is not enough if it isn’t also reliable.

‘Of course, the speed’s there,’ Webber told Channel 4. ‘They are strong but [they were] not strong enough to win the race [in Australia]. But when you haemorrhage 18 points and maybe the fastest lap and all the rest of it, they are big points down the drain, huge points.

‘And Leclerc is doubling down — another victory, another fastest lap, so it’s tricky for them. It’s a long season. Red Bull are not going anywhere in a hurry, but these points are going to be tricky to get back.’

Red Bull has been managing its own power units this season after the departure of previous supplier Honda at the end of 2021, and sister team AlphaTauri has also been beset by retirements for drivers Pierre Gasly and Yuki Tsunoda. Webber says the staff at Red Bull’s factory will have to work