This was supposed to finally be the year that Red Bull competed for the championship, but the many crashes and retirements have made that an uphill battle already, and Dr Helmut Marko is anything but happy about that.
"We have good race pace, but the retirements hurt us massively," Marko told Motorsport.com.
"We don't rely on qualifying, so if you retire from a race in which you can score good points, that hurts."
Surprisingly, when re-discussing the collision between Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen, Marko praised the Dutchman.
"I asked if we shouldn't have intervened, because it had almost gone wrong already a few times.
"We're the only top team that doesn't give team orders and we're proud of that.
"In Baku, it backfired.
"The crazy thing was that the duel should've been over when Ricciardo overtook Max."
That Verstappen re-took Ricciardo's position in between pitstops, is typical Verstappen, says Marko.
"Ricciardo should've been well ahead after the stop, but Max did the impossible on his in-lap like we've seen from him before.
"He said he was struggling with the tyres, but suddenly drives a fast second sector - he's a massive talent."
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