Helmut Marko has made it clear that Red Bull has work to do after pre-season testing if they want to be competitive for the title this season.
The sports advisor has no doubt that the Austrian team is expecting an extremely tough fight, as after testing he has identified McLaren as the favorite for this year’s championship.
Red Bull faced a troubled three days of testing at the Skhir track in Bahrain last week, including problems with the RB21 car that kept Liam Lawson and Max Verstappen off the track on Thursday and Friday.
For the first time, the former constructors’ champions finished bottom of the standings, 154 laps behind the leaders – the equivalent of almost three full races at the Bahrain Grand Prix.
Evaluating the test results, Red Bull’s sports advisor told Germany’s Sport.de: “I think this will be a battle between three or four teams – McLaren, Mercedes, Ferrari and Red Bull.”
“But, looking at the results, McLaren is already slightly ahead, both in short and long stints.”
Marko is confident that Red Bull has made at least some progress with the RB21 car, given the problems with last year’s RB20, but other teams have made further strides, so the Austrian admits that “for now, McLaren is clearly the favorite.”
When asked how significant that advantage is, after a long break, Marko said: “Only on Wednesday were we as fast as McLaren.” On Friday, the last day, I think we were two to three tenths of a second behind on the long stints,” said Marko.
In addition, the Austrian noted that “McLaren’s tire consumption was significantly better than our data showed for our car.”
Red Bull tested a new front wing and a new underbody during testing, with only Max Verstappen driving with the upgrades on the final day of pre-season testing.
Marko would like the upgrades to have proven to be correct immediately, as this is very important for the start of the season, while he assures that the car is more predictable, and that time is needed for further progress.
“It would be nice if all the adjustments and innovations worked properly right away,” Marko notes. “But at least the car is more predictable now. It reacts correctly to technical changes and is not as unpredictable as last year.
“Some of the new parts worked, some didn’t. But that means we still have room for development and improvement with what we currently have available.”
