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FORMULA ONE world champion Max Verstappen has hinted that his late retirement from Sunday’s Bahrain GP could cost him the title. The flying Dutchman was on course for a second place finish in the F1 season opener before suddenly losing power in the closing stages.
Verstappen walked away from his car in disgust after retiring from the Bahrain GPCredit: AFP
That saw Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz secured a Ferrari one-two, with Lewis Hamilton finishing in an unlikely third after Verstappen’s collapse.
Verstappen controversially beat Hamilton to last year’s title by just eight points, and the 24-year-old has hinted a zero point start to the campaign could cost him come the business end of the season.
After losing early ground to his rivals, he said: “To lose so many points for the team is also very disappointing, because for the championship where sometimes it can be really tight until the end, these are very important points.”
Verstappen’s team-mate Sergio Perez also didn’t finish the race in what ended up being a nightmare weekend for Red Bull.
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Perez raced on after Verstappen retired, but spun out on the LAST lap while in third position to gift Hamilton a miracle podium.
The result left Verstappen furious with his team, with the driver blasting “At this level, it shouldn’t happen,” following the two late retirements.
Verstappen also went on to claim he had difficulty steering his car throughout the race before the suspected fuel pump issue that ended his day prematurely.
He said: “I mean, what happened at the end is obviously very frustrating, but of course before that, quite a few issues.
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“First of all the balance was off. I didn’t have the same feeling as on Friday on the long runs, so that was a bit disappointing.
“Then suddenly my steering, I don’t know what happened to that, it was just completely locked and the faster I was going, I could barely steer.
“So it was not easy on the restart to defend from Carlos [Sainz].
“But then I was still in second with that big issue so you think, okay, with all these issues that I’ve had today, second would be a good result.”
But then Verstappen’s race was dramatically cut short just three laps before the chequered flag.
He concluded: “And then suddenly I had to retire, everything just switched off. It looked like a fuel pump or issue, there was no fuel coming to the engine.
“Of course these things, you don’t want them to happen and it’s very painful for the team as well that both cars retired. We need to look into everything.” More

FORMULA ONE chiefs are monitoring the situation in Saudi Arabia after a petroleum depot was attacked by rebels.The sport heads to Jeddah next for the second race of the season where the Aramco fuel plant was hit.
The Saudi Arabia Grand Prix follows just a week after BahrainCredit: Reuters
Reuters reported that the Saudi-led coalition fighting in Yemen said it had intercepted and destroyed a “hostile air target” which was aimed towards the Red Sea city of Jeddah, according to Saudi state media.
Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi group had earlier attacked an Aramco distribution plant in Jeddah, after firing missiles and drones at Saudi energy and water desalination facilities in the southern Jizan region.
Al Arabiya English quoted a spokesman from The Arab Coalition, who said: “We destroyed 106 explosive-laden boats that posed a threat to the freedom of navigation in the southern Red Sea.”
The Arab Coalition also announced that Saudi Arabia’s Air Defence Forces had intercepted and destroyed nine drones.
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.nk-headline-heading{color:rgba(71,30,121,1);}.css-1uyse24:before{content:”;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;left:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;z-index:1;}.css-xpuujo{border-width:0 1px 1px 1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgba(149,199,208,1);padding:12px;max-height:104px;min-height:98px;}.css-tqcu81{padding:0;border-width:0 1px 1px 1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgba(149,199,208,1);padding:12px;max-height:104px;min-height:98px;}.css-124tga5{overflow:hidden;-webkit-line-clamp:3;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;display:-webkit-box;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1;}.css-5jzxpx{overflow:hidden;-webkit-line-clamp:3;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;display:-webkit-box;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1;}.css-bq4915{margin:0;padding:0;color:rgba(34,97,108,1);text-transform:uppercase;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:The Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-bq4915:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}MAX POWER .css-8h3gc3{margin:0;padding:0;color:rgba(34,37,38,1);-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:The Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-8h3gc3:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Max Verstappen furious with Red Bull team after late Bahrain Grand Prix meltdown
The 2022 F1 season kicked off in Bahrain at the weekend as Charles Leclerc claimed victory for Ferrari.
Carlos Sainz made it a one-two for the Scuderia, with Lewis Hamilton rounding off the podium places with an impressive third following a difficult few days for Mercedes.
But it was a weekend to forget for pre-season favourites Red Bull.
Defending champion Max Verstappen was forced to retire with three laps remaining when a podium place looked a certainty.
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An engine failure scuppered the Dutchman’s chances of securing points in the opening race.
And his team-mate Sergio Perez suffered a similar fate moments later.
The Mexican was under pressure from Hamilton as he looked to hang on to third place, but ended up spinning and also having to retire. More

MAX VERSTAPPEN was left fuming with Red Bull after his late meltdown at the Bahrain Grand Prix.The world champion was forced to retire from the race with just three laps to go due to suspected fuel pump issues.
Max Verstappen was not happy with his Red Bull car conking out late on in the Bahrain GPCredit: Getty
The world champion was forced to retire late in Sunday’s season openerCredit: Rex
Verstappen had been on course for a second-place finish behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc when the bizarre incident occurred.
And Red Bull’s suffering did not stop there, with Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez also retiring due to the same problem.
The Spaniard was forced to stop on the FINAL lap, denying him a third-place finish.
And it meant Ferrari secured a one-two finish with Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, while Lewis Hamilton’s troublesome Mercedes ended up taking the final podium spot.
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.nk-headline-heading{color:rgba(71,30,121,1);}.css-1uyse24:before{content:”;top:0;right:0;bottom:0;left:0;overflow:hidden;position:absolute;z-index:1;}.css-xpuujo{border-width:0 1px 1px 1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgba(149,199,208,1);padding:12px;max-height:104px;min-height:98px;}.css-tqcu81{padding:0;border-width:0 1px 1px 1px;border-style:solid;border-color:rgba(149,199,208,1);padding:12px;max-height:104px;min-height:98px;}.css-124tga5{overflow:hidden;-webkit-line-clamp:3;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;display:-webkit-box;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1;}.css-5jzxpx{overflow:hidden;-webkit-line-clamp:3;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;display:-webkit-box;word-wrap:break-word;line-height:1;}.css-bq4915{margin:0;padding:0;color:rgba(34,97,108,1);text-transform:uppercase;-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:The Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-bq4915:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}BAHRAIN GP .css-8h3gc3{margin:0;padding:0;color:rgba(34,37,38,1);-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;font-family:The Sun;font-size:18px;line-height:1.333;font-weight:700;letter-spacing:0%;font-stretch:normal;display:inline;}.css-8h3gc3:hover:not(:disabled){-webkit-text-decoration:none;text-decoration:none;}Leclerc WINS dramatic opener as Hamilton snatches podium and Verstappen RETIRES
Speaking after the dramatic race, Verstappen made it clear he was not impressed with the faults in both Red Bull cars.
He raged: “Of course, you can always say problems can happen and you might have a retirement.
“But I think at this level, after already having so much information with engines and stuff, it shouldn’t happen.
“We already lost a lot of points again in one race weekend, so that’s just really not good.
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“Of course I know that with one retirement it’s not over, but I would have preferred to have 18 points.”
Boss Christian Horner echoed Vettel’s sentiments, adding: “A brutal finish to that race for us.
“What looked like a decent haul of points suddenly evaporated in the last couple of laps.
“It looks like a similar issue on both cars. We don’t know exactly what is it yet, whether it’s a lift pump, a collector or something along those lines.
“But we’ve got to get into it and understand exactly what’s caused it.” More

PIERRE GASLY was forced to abandon his car after it set on fire towards the end of the Bahrain Grand Prix.The incident occurred when the French racer’s AlphaTauri vehicle was forced out of the F1 season-opening race on lap 45 after a crash.
Pierre Gasly was forced to abandon car at side of track in the Bahrain Grand PrixCredit: AFP
Stewards quickly raced over to put out the flames after it caught fireCredit: Twitter
Fortunately for Gasly he was OK enough to get out and run from the vehicle before it went up in flames.
Marshalls raced over to put out the fire as the safety car was called out on to the track.
The action soon restarted in the Middle East as Charles Leclerc eventually won a close battle with Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to take victory in a dramatic climax.
Leclerc and Verstappen endured a wheel-to-wheel dice after their first pits for several laps and swapped places five times before Leclerc moved ahead.
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Reliability problems then forced Verstappen into retirement and promoted Carlos Sainz to second.
And then another Red Bull driver, Sergio Perez, suffered engine failure at the first corner of the last lap to allow Lewis Hamilton to take the final podium place for Mercedes.
Gasly had set the pace in first practice for Bahrain ahead of the new campaign.
But he only managed to finish in tenth during qualifying for the showpiece.
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And it is not the first time that the driver has seen his car go up in the flames.
Back in October 2020 his second practice session ahead of the Portuguese Grand Prix was brought to a sudden halt when his AlphaTauri motor caught fire while he was out on track.
Halfway into the Free Practice 2, Gasly began to slow going through Turn 13 before pulling over.
Flames soon started to appear out of the rear of his AT01 as the star called the marshals over to extinguish the fire.  More