Marko sees softs struggling at Red Bull: "But know what the problem is"

Helmut Marko saw a two-faced Friday for Red Bull Racing. In FP1 the Austrian team was on top, but in the second session of Friday, they were two tenths behind Mercedes. Marko is not despairing and knows that the German formation had screwed up the engine. Moreover in the long runs things 'just' look good for his team.

"Mercedes definitely showed themselves a bit more," Marko told ServusTV. The 78-year-old man from Graz had expected the RB16B to go very well on the soft tyre at the Red Bull ring, but nothing turned out to be further from the truth."We didn't handle the softs as well as we had imagined. We didn't have the optimum grip. But we know what the problem is."

Long runs positive for Red Bull

Red Bull is not despairing after both Mercedes drivers suddenly found themselves ahead of Verstappen in FP2. "If you look at the top speed, you can assume that Mercedes have upped the engine a notch," he said. Friday also saw the simulation of the long runs, which brought satisfaction to Red Bull's faces. "That was very good. The long-run on the mediums were very good for us."

In Q2, Red Bull will at least try to set a time good for a place in the top ten in order to start on the yellow compound Sunday. "For us, there is no alternative as a race tyre". The softs wear down too quickly to allow a one-stop in Austria, so the pace on the mediums is excellent.

Red Bull not looking forward to rain

In the final minutes of free practice, it started to rain for a while in the afternoon. "We then went out on the track with Max in particular. He then immediately showed again how good he is. And that's also where the set-up we have is absolutely good, even for slightly wet conditions," said a Marko who is confident.