Helmut Marko: “Everything is still possible”
After a difficult start to the championship for Red Bull with several retirements, the Austrian team is leading both the drivers' and constructors' championships. According to Helmut Marko, this is partially due to Ferrari's mistakes.
Red Bull and Max Verstappen are leading their respective championships with 36 and 9 points ahead of Ferrari and Charles Leclerc. However, the beginning of the season was not the most idyllic for the Milton Keynes team, with a deficit of 46 points after three races in favor of Charles Leclerc due to 3 retirements (two for Verstappen, one for Perez, editor’s note).
But luck has turned around as it is now Ferrari who is lagging behind their rival. This is due to multiple mistakes, sometimes from Carlos Sainz, then from the Italian strategy. There is also Charles Leclerc’s retirement in Barcelona due to a turbocharger problem. All these factors do not play in favor of Ferrari, who now finds themselves in a delicate position.
According to Helmut Marko, the Scuderia cannot be competitive under pressure. They are under pressure, Leclerc is struggling with it and making mistakes. But that’s how it is, it’s racing. In Monaco, we forced Ferrari to react with our pit stop strategy and they instinctively reacted poorly. This echoes the 2017 and 2018 championships, where Ferrari lost the title race against Mercedes due to numerous driving or strategic mistakes.
On the other side, Helmut Marko emphasizes the rapid progress of their rival from the previous season. Mercedes isn’t having a good start to the season, but according to him, the car seems to be getting faster: “Their car is getting faster and when you look at their best times, they are already at our level or even better. So, we must not dismiss them, because if Mercedes suddenly dominates, then Hamilton will be back too. I have done the calculations and we still have fifteen races ahead of us. Even Russell is only 41 points behind Verstappen, so everything is still possible.”
