Power surge on Verstappen's car caused him to crash in Bahrain GP qualifying

Red Bull have always had an issue with Renault not delivering as much power as Mercedes or Ferrari. But in an ironic turn of events, its driver Max Verstappen bowed out of qualifying in the Bahrain Grand Prix due to an unexpected power surge.

The Dutchman lost the rear of his car on the exit of Turn 2 and crashed into the barrier in Turn 3. Post-session, he revealed that the incident happened due a surge in power of 150bhp in the corner which caught him out completely.

"It was of course unfortunate, but I studied the data before we came here and all of a sudden I had a 150bhp increase,” he explained. "It’s a bit odd because the corner is not flat out – you are just feathering the throttle.

"From one moment to another it was like an on/off switch – you’ve got 150bhp less then 150bhp again. So it spun up the rear tyres quite aggressively and I spun. I didn’t anticipate it at all. You know, [getting] 150bhp extra suddenly when you already think you are on the limit is quite a lot…"

As we know from Mercedes' qualifying 'party mode' power, the drivers use more or less power depending on the different corners on the race track. As Verstappen said, Turn 2 and 3 is not the corner to use high power.

However, for reasons unknown so far, the car deployed that much power in the corner which caused Verstappen to spin and crash. The incident came at an unfortunate time in Q1, which meant he is only to start 15th for Sunday's race.

With the race pace looking stronger, the Dutch driver expects him to at least reach the Top 6 by the end of the race, but it will be another salvaging outing rather than a fighting one for top end positions, which was also the cause in Australia when Verstappen had a 360 degree spin.

Teammate Daniel Ricciardo qualified fifth showing the power of the Red Bull car. The Australian will start from fourth after a five place penalty to Mercedes' Lewis Hamilton, which gives him a good chance to score the team's first podium of the season.

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