Technical problems continue to plague Red Bull in Jerez

Red Bull’s troublesome start to pre-season testing in Jerez continued on Thursday as they were forced to abandon attempts to run their new car after just three laps because of technical problems.

The world champion team, who entered the day having completed a mere 11 laps over two days with Sebastian Vettel at the wheel, sent new recruit Daniel Ricciardo out on track in the Renault-powered RB10 at lunchtime, but the car lasted less than a lap before grinding to a smoky halt.

The car was returned to the pits and worked on, but the Australian completed just two further laps before Red Bull decided to cease running and concentrate on finding a solution to their continued problems.

“We worked hard yesterday to make the changes it was felt were necessary to overcome the problems we identified and we were hopeful of a more successful day today,” explained Red Bull’s race engineering co-ordinator Andy Damerum.

“Unfortunately, the measures we took only partially solved the issue and, as with yesterday, it’s more sensible to stop and dig deeper into finding a solution. It’s obviously not where we want to be and naturally the whole team is frustrated by these issues. However, we’re pretty good at bouncing back from this type of thing. This is where the whole team pulls together and I’m sure we will get these problems fixed.”

Red Bull will be hoping for a more trouble-free day of running on Friday on what is the last day of testing at the Spanish venue this winter, ahead of two subsequent four-day tests in Bahrain.