'Sloppy' car assembly behind Red Bull's reliability problems, says ex-F1 driver Surer

Former F1 driver-turned-commentator Marc Surer has accused Red Bull of doing "sloppy work" with Max Verstappen's RB18.

Verstappen has suffered retirements in two of three F1 races in 2022 so far, including at the most recent Australian GP after being forced to pull over in the 39th lap with a fuelling problem.

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"What happened is that a line broke, so either they have a weak point in there, or it's been badly fitted. That shouldn't really happen," Surer said of their mishap at Jeddah.

"Either the part was simply too weak or not properly constructed, or what I rather believe, because one [Red Bull] car finished, probably the assembly was simply sloppy."

Despite winning the race in Saudi Arabia in between his two DNFs, the reigning world champion already finds himself 46 points adrift.

That's not an insurmountable target, Surer said, but Red Bull isn't doing themselves any favours at the moment.

"With 23 races, it's actually not that much," he said during a video interview for formel1.de.

"It sounds like a lot, it makes a bad impression, but on the other hand, we have to say he won a race. That means he's capable of winning, and I think that's the most important thing to learn from it.

"Red Bull also knows how to make a car fast," he added. "They already know where their weaknesses are. So I'm not really worried they will catch up again 100% sooner or later."