Marko sees Mercedes beaten: 'And Max has a lot of room for improvement'

Helmut Marko is looking forward to the season with confidence. The 77-year old Austrian states that Red Bull Racing was faster than Mercedes last week in Bahrain anyway, regardless of the fuel levels used. Max Verstappen has yet to show his full potential.

"We had no problems, the car reacted the way we wanted it to and the new Honda engine delivered what the data promised beforehand," a delighted Marko said in a conversation with Auto Bild. According to Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing is not the favourite at the start of the season. Marko is more optimistic.

Red Bull faster than rival

The Red Bull Racing advisor states that the RB16B was faster than Mercedes' 2021 car. "But we also know that Mercedes drove with more fuel and did not show everything. Still, they would not have come close to us, even if they had driven with less fuel. Especially Max still has a lot of room for improvement," he explained.

According to Marko Verstappen hasn't got everything out of his new car yet. Red Bull expects that even new teammate Sergio Perez will not be able to keep up with the 23-year-old Dutchman in terms of one-lap speed. "But Perez will be extremely strong in the race and score a lot of points," he said.

Comparison with Mercedes

The Austrian team is satisfied with the course of the winter tests. Marko previously spoke of the best preparation ever in Red Bull's history. "If you look at the onboard's, you had the impression that Max was in last year's Mercedes and the Mercedes drivers were in our 2020 car." By this, the top man means that Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas had to correct at the wheel every time in Bahrain, while Verstappen did not have to.