The way the season has developed so far, it would appear that there is nothing and no one that can stop Red Bull with running away with all the accolades this season. Naturally, for all the fans, rival teams and the media, there is only one logical conclusion; Red Bull will win everything this season. But as the Bulls dominate race weekend after another, behind the scenes, trouble seems to be brewing.

During Qualifying for the Saudi Arabian GP, Max Verstappen was impeded by a faulty driveshaft that ended his night even before Q3 could begin. During the race, even though the Dutch lion made an amazing recovery from P15 to P2, his driveshaft began throwing tantrums again. This seems pretty harmless given that the Bulls completed a solid 1-2 for the team with Sergio Perez leading the way. But if reports are to be believed, the Milton-Keynes-based outfit may be in some serious trouble and it’s down to a simple yet catastrophic mistake.

Red Bull become architects of their own demise

Verstappen’s Saudi niggles may not be just a one off, rather it may be the symptom of a more drastic and fatal problem. According to Auto Motor und Sport, “Red Bull remains concerned over reliability. No one at RB can guarantee that the cars will finish the race. They suspect the weak point is quality control or supplier parts. The parts were sent and built months ago.”

That being said, the team are still favorites to dominate this weekend’s Australian GP. “If there are no reliability issues for the team this weekend, nothing should stand in the way of a Red Bull 1-2.”

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Red Bull were once a supremely reliable outfit. But they’d been dealt with a troubling even last year, and still they prevailed.

Red Bull’s 2023 reliability woes prompt a quick reminder to Christian Horner’s famous words

Last year, during the opening phase of the 2022 season, the Bulls found themselves in a similar predicament, reliability wise. However, in the face of adversity, team principal Christian Horner was quick to put things into perspective.

He told Sky Sports, “I’d rather fix a fast car than try and make a reliable, slow one fast. [But] we need to get on top of it. We can’t accept DNFs. We need to understand what the issue is, and we’ve got to address it.” The team just have got to stick to this mantra, but it’s always easier said than done.

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Is Red Bull’s early troubles, reliability wise, really a threat to Max Verstappen’s championship hopes?