19/04/2015
NEWS STORY
Renault-powered Infiniti Red Bull Racing achieved a double points finish in today's Bahrain Grand Prix. Daniel Ricciardo claimed sixth position while team-mate Daniil Kvyat crossed the line in ninth after starting from 17th. The two Scuderia Toro Rosso cars retired from the 57 lap race.
Daniel Ricciardo finished one position up on his qualifying slot having tailed the Williams of Valterri Bottas for the majority of the race. He finished behind Sebastian Vettel of Ferrari, who had dropped behind Bottas in the latter stages of the Grand Prix.
Daniil Kvyat started from 17th on the grid and made steady progress through the field. A move on the penultimate lap of the race on Felipe Massa boosted him to P9.
There was disappointment for Scuderia Toro Rosso as both Carlos Sainz and Max Verstappen retired from the race. Sainz pulled up at the side of the track after exiting the pits with a reported loose wheel, while Verstappen stopped on lap 34 with an electrical issue.
Remi Taffin, Director of Operations: Two points scoring positions with Red Bull are the most we could have hoped for today. We were conservative with the PU settings as we knew we were at a potential risk of problems. We just got to the end of the race with Red Bull. At Toro Rosso, it was not their day today as Carlos looked set for another points finish before his retirement. With regards to Max, it looks like an electrical problem. With three weeks to the next race we will look in detail at the first four races - the positive, as well as the negative. We will also look at more permanent fixes to the problems experienced and take further steps forward on all fronts.
Cyril Abiteboul, Managing Director: It wasn't a memorable weekend for us in any way, but we did what we needed to do. We came here aware of the risks from the previous race, and considering the starting positions, sixth and ninth is the best we could have hoped for with Red Bull today. Toro Rosso did not fulfil the potential, and a double retirement is a disappointment after the strong performances of the first few races. Another engine problem is definitely not what we wanted to see, but I will take as a positive sign that it was at the very end and did not impact the final result of Daniel. Reliability has been our Achilles Heel since the last two races, but with 18 days to go before the first session in Spain, we have the time to introduce the more permanent fixes we have in the pipeline and start making the performance steps we are all keen to make.