Did a fuel problem cost Vettel Bahrain win?
Ron Dennis believes that the real reason Red Bull Racing's Sebastian Vettel missed out in Bahrain two weeks ago could be fuel related.
Vettel looked odds on to take the F1 2010 season opener, until he suddenly lost power on lap 34, and was then overhauled by the Ferrari's of Fernando Alonso and Felipe Massa and the McLaren of Lewis Hamilton. He eventually limped home in fourth.
The issue was initially blamed on a cracked exhaust, before the Milton Keynes-based outfit later said it was actually due to a spark-plug failure.
"We have analysed the problem and it should not happen again," Vettel told German news agency Deutsche Presse-Agentur.
Former McLaren F1 boss Dennis, though, isn't convinced and has told Cologne newspaper Express that it may be due to the fact the RB6's fuel tank is too small or fuel consumption was greater than expected.
"The lap times dropped so rapidly that one can imagine the electronic control unit (ECU) switching to a conservative programme to save fuel. The problem with the Red Bull could be design. It could be the fuel tank is too small, or the fuel consumption is higher than they expected," he confirmed.
