Marko confident: 'Verstappen and Perez were both quicker in long runs'

Helmut Marko is very satisfied with Red Bull Racing 's performance in the last winter test. He saw that the RB19 was strong and also looked reliable. The Red Bull advisor is particularly pleased with the race pace.

Marko happy with pace Red Bull

Winter test results seem to indicate that Red Bull will be the team to beat in the season's opening race, but a definitive answer is still a week away. So far, at least, Marko is happy with what he sees. "We actually only had one problem and it was not serious," he reveals to the German branch of Sky Sports.

According to the 79-year-old Austrian, it is now just a matter of fine-tuning the set-up. However, he does stress that lap times during the winter test are relative, as it is not clear how much fuel is being used and which teams are still holding something back.

"We did see that we are reliable and fast," Marko notes. He is particularly enthusiastic about the long runs. In these, both Red Bull drivers were "quicker than the competition", in some cases even "significantly", according to the consultant. Nevertheless, Marko expresses the expectation that it will again be between Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes in the battle for the top positions.