Marko has very bad news for Verstappen after disappointing Friday in Imola

McLaren concluded Friday in Imola dominantly, with Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris in P1 and P2 across both sessions. Red Bull despite the recent updates integrated to the RB21, fell short.

Marko remains realistic about the situation. "A typical McLaren problem, it is clearly visible. Four tenths on the track is a lot. We still have to go through the details of the practice properly, and see if we can make the car a bit less nervous."

"But in principle McLaren remains the reference point. And that has been the case more often this year", he states in conversation with GPblog, among others.

The 81-year old Austrian remains cautious about Red Bull's chances in qualifying: "At the moment we are too far away. We have made adjustments again. If we can convert that into a result tomorrow, something might be possible. But in the race, as we have seen, McLaren is in a class of its own."

The updates that Red Bull made, including the floor of the RB21, have not yet had the desired effect. "On circuits like Miami, with open sections and a lot of wind, it is a sum of factors. The changes do give good indications, but they have not yet provided the breakthrough that is needed to reach the level of McLaren," Marko explains.

He is also cautious about the long runs. "It is difficult to say whether everyone drove with the same amount of fuel. We used our usual amount, but it seems that others may have had less on board. That may have made the difference seem bigger than it actually was."

However, if Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris were running on the same amount of fuel as Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda, that could be bad news for Red Bull.