Marko expects three-way battle for victory: 'Mercedes was very strong on Friday'

Prior to the Barcelona Grand Prix weekend, everyone expected it to be a battle between Ferrari and Red Bull Racing. However, Mercedes showed that there is also quite some speed in the car of George Russell and Lewis Hamilton. In qualifying, they were P4 and P6 and according to Helmut Marko they can pose a real danger in the race, he explained to Viaplay.

Red Bull's top man knows well what Mercedes can do on strategy and with the high tyre wear in Barcelona, Mercedes has to be taken into account according to Marko. "I'm afraid you have to include Mercedes as well because the question is tyre management and they looked much better, especially on the longer runs on Friday."

All options open at hot Barcelona

Due to the tremendously hot weather, the tires are expected to wear down tremendously. This season we already saw in Imola and Miami that tire wear plays a very important role, which Red Bul managed to control better than Ferrari so far. As a result Verstappen won both races and also now the expectations are high for the Dutch driver.

However, Marko does not want to expect too much from the race yet. There is still a lot unknown for the F1 teams because of the high temperatures, which they have not experienced before this season. So a lot of unknown factors and Marko knows that very well too. "We'll see, everything is open."