Following Sunday's Australian Grand Prix, Helmut Marko admits that reliability isn't Red Bull's only concern.

Understandably, Max Verstappen has been left extremely concerned about his title hopes following Sunday's Australian Grand Prix which witnessed his second DNF of the season.

As a result, the Dutchman drops to sixth in the standings, trailing his main rival by 46 points - essentially two wins.

As in Bahrain, where both Bulls failed to make it to the end, the cause of Verstappen's retirement in Melbourne is understood to be fule system related, but not the same as that which affected the team in the season opener.

However, while the Milton Keynes based outfit looks into the exact cause of Sunday's DNF, Helmut Marko warns that reliability isn't the only problem the team is facing.

"There are two or maybe three different things at play," the Austrian told Red Bull's own Servus TV. "Firstly, the reliability problems, which we hardly had last year.

"But the deficit to Ferrari was also alarming today," he continued. "They just controlled the pace, if Max upped the pace, Leclerc could react easily.

"We were negatively surprised by the speed of Ferrari," he admitted. "They had almost no graining and we already had some after a few laps. Ferrari can find a good balance with their car more easily."

Then there is the issue facing a number of teams... weight.

"We are clearly heavier than the Ferrari,” Marko admitted. "I think we have a weight handicap of about 10 kilograms. Converted to lap time, that equates to about three-tenths per lap.

"Lowering the weight is expensive," he added, the budget cap meaning that any money spent on dealing with the weight will mean less available to spend on updates as the title fight intensifies. "To start with, it's a financial issue and secondly it is also related to reliability. So it is a difficult split due to the budget cap.

"We are facing difficult times," he sighed.

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READERS COMMENTS

1. Posted by kenji, 13/04/2022 22:21

"@Spindoctor...maybe the report card should read, ' Call soonest for appointment with Principal'."

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2. Posted by Spindoctor, 13/04/2022 12:19

"As I understand things the problem (catching fire aside) in Melbourne was the "balance" of Max's car. He certainly complained about it fairly often. I believe this was the result of their running a low-drag configuration, presumably to increase the top speed in the hope of having more overtaking and\or pull-away capability. That was a conscious & apparently wrong decision made by the Team and\or Max (assuming he gets a say).

Their other problem is that Ferrari have a more reliable, faster car (in Melbourne, anyway) & an excellent cool-headed driver. Their Report card should read "Could do better""

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3. Posted by Egalitarian, 13/04/2022 5:10

"@Defiant - well, at least Honda doesn't have to go through what Renault went through. It could be Mark Webber's fault. He was, after all, at the race."

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4. Posted by Defiant, 12/04/2022 16:14

"I wonder how many people will pop up on the "to blame" list each week."

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5. Posted by Ro, 12/04/2022 16:08

"Enter your comment hereIts a no brainer! Dont pay your lead driver so much, or better still, let him pay for the "upgrades and fixes"
"

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6. Posted by ZJAY, 12/04/2022 15:09

"Great news, happy for you Marko. I am not a fan of budget cap, however, I may consider changing my mind. Wish you more trouble soon. "

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"We are facing difficult times," admits Marko

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