No more worries about Verstappen leaving: 'No more Mercedes supremacy'

Red Bull Racing showed in Bahrain that the gap to Mercedes has finally been closed and that the battle for the championship is wide open. Helmut Marko is no longer worried about Max Verstappen leaving the team.

For the past seven years, Formula 1 has been dominated by Mercedes. Ferrari came close in 2017 and 2018, but could never really make things difficult for the Germans. Red Bull Racing hopes to do so in 2021. In Bahrain, the team seemed to have the fastest car, but it was another victory for Lewis Hamilton.

Verstappen stays at Red Bull

''We lost in Bahrain with the faster car. If you want to beat Mercedes then everything has to be 100 per cent perfect. However, we still assume that there will be a championship fight between Hamilton and Verstappen. In any casethere is no more supremacy of Mercedes, which was already the case since the introduction of the hybrid engines'', said Helmut Marko in conversation with the German RTL.

In recent years there were doubts about the future of Verstappen at Red Bull. However, now that Red Bull has built a good car, but Marko is no longer so worried about it. ''Things can go fast in Formula 1, but I'm very optimistic about 2022,'' Marko concluded when asked if he fears a departure for the Dutchman.