Red Bull have ‘two or three problems’ to solve after Australian Grand Prix disappointment

Red Bull have been hampered by reliability issues at the start of the season

Verstappen failed to finish for the second time in three races in Melbourne (Getty Images)

Red Bull have a number of problems to resolve ahead of the fourth race of the 2022 season, according to advisor Helmut Marko.

Defending drivers’ champion Max Verstappen has been plagued with reliability issues in the first three races, failing to finish in Bahrain and Australia.

Verstappen’s teammate Sergio Perez also did not see the chequered flag in the season opener in Bahrain.

And while Verstappen did manage to win in Saudi Arabia and Perez managed second place in Melbourne, the reliability issues are currently overshadowing Red Bull’s results.

However, Marko insists the problem with reliability is just one facet of the things they need to address ahead of the Emilia Romagna GP next weekend.

Speaking to Servus TV, he said: “There are two or maybe three different things at play. Firstly, the reliability problems, which we hardly had last year, but the lag behind Ferrari was also alarming today.

“They just controlled the pace and did that without graining. If Max stepped on, Leclerc could react easily.

“We were negatively surprised by the speed of Ferrari. They had almost no graining and we already had after a few laps. Ferrari can find a good balance with the car more easily.”

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has already claimed wins in Bahrain and Melbourne and opened up a huge 34 point lead to Mercedes’ George Russell who sits second in the drivers’ standings.

Sergio Perez is fourth on 30 points, while Verstappen is down in sixth with all 25 of his points coming from the victory in Saudi Arabia.