Red Bull's Marko happy with Verstappen's P1: 'But we have no balance'

Smiling faces could finally be seen among the Red Bull Racing staff again, even though it was 'only' a free practice session. Max Verstappen finished a session first, two tenths ahead of Charles Leclerc. In a very hot Monza, the mechanics behind the Austrian racing stable's garage even joked about their competition, referring to how their neighbour Mercedes' afternoon must be after Andrea Kimi Antonelli's crash.

With sweat on his forehead, external advisor Helmut Marko walked past behind the mechanics, first stopping at a TV camera and then walking to the Red Bull Energy Station, the Austrians' immense accommodation during a Grand Prix weekend. Meanwhile, around him, Italian fans were shooting the necessary photos.

Once at the bottom of the entrance, Helmut Marko very briefly looked back on Red Bull's first session in Monza to GPblog. "It was okay. It looks like we have no balance, but don't overestimate, first free practice, we don’t know," said the Austrian.

However, Marko also had to acknowledge that for morale within the team, a first place is good, even if it was 'only' an FP1 session. "Yeah, it was a good sign that we went in the right direction," concluded the Red Bull advisor.

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