Red Bull team principal Christian Horner says the team is investigating Daniel Ricciardo's race-ending brake failure in the Russian Grand Prix to determine the root-cause of the problem.
Ricciardo was seventh at the restart following an early safety car period in Sochi when smoke started pouring from the right rear brake on his RB13, ultimately causing him to retire from the race. Red Bull teammate Max Verstappen crashed out of last month's Bahrain Grand Prix after suffering a rear brake problem, though Horner insists early signs suggest Ricciardo's issue was not related to Verstappen's.
"It was a real disappointment to lose Daniel early in the race with a right rear brake issue, straight after the safety car restart," he said. "We need to understand exactly what the cause of failure was; the outcome was similar to that which happened with Max in Bahrain but it looks like a different issue, so that needs thorough exploration."
Ricciardo, who failed to see the chequered flag for the second time in 2017, admitted he was left frustrated by the failure.
"After the safety car I looked in my mirror to see where the Force India was and I noticed that the right rear brake was on fire," The Australian said. "I reported it to the team and they told me to bring the car back to the pits slowly. Unfortunately the issue could not be fixed and I had to retire from the race.
"It was early in the race so I don't know how much the safety car and two starts impacted us but the team will obviously investigate that. It's frustrating, on a Sunday you just build up for the race and try to store up your adrenaline to use at 3pm but it was over very quickly and unfortunately I didn't get as much of a fight as I would have liked."