Marko not yet concerned about team orders at Red Bull: 'Perez gets plenty of room'

Where Max Verstappen is in a duel with Lewis Hamilton, Sergio Perez seems to be still searching for the potential of the RB16B. The Mexican was quick in Portimao, but was unable to play a significant role on the Portuguese circuit. A fourth place was the best he could achieve and for Barcelona the aim will be a podium finish.

That is also the opinion of Helmut Marko, who emphasized the importance of Perez once again in conversation with Sport1.de. "In the first three races it became clear that only Hamilton and Verstappen will fight for the World Championship. Perez is still struggling to get used to the car, but is getting stronger. Overall, he simply lacks two tenths on Max."

Team orders at Red Bull?

Marko sees Perez being able to perform more, than Valtteri Bottas has done at Mercedes. "Bottas is not strong at the crucial moments and also has weaker days, as you saw in Imola. In the race, as you could see very well in Portugal, Hamilton also puts Bottas in his place". The Red Bull Racing advisor is giving Perez time to get used to the team's car.

"He has the room for improvement and he is also still improving". However, Marko does not want to think about team orders just yet. "At the moment it's just too early for that. Should it come to that, it will be done fair", Marko concludes.