Red Bull surprised by Mercedes' news: 'Much more logical at Silverstone'

This weekend is the second weekend that Formula 1 races at the Red Bull Ring, but the conditions of this weekend are not comparable with the first weekend. It's a lot warmer this weekend and on top of that they are running a softer tyre selection this weekend. Helmut Marko reveals that Red Bull Racing have had to do some work on the car as a result.

"We had to adjust the setup to be as fast as on the medium tyre", let Marko explain in conversation with ORF. "Also the higher temperatures make us have to adjust." In the third free practice session, Red Bull did seem to have made those adjustments, as Verstappen was by a wide margin the fastest.

Red Bull expected Hamilton news later

The big news on Saturday in Spielberg was that Lewis Hamilton has extended his contract with Mercedes for two years. With that, Red Bull also expects to see the Briton on the track plenty of times over the next two years. Marko was surprised that Mercedes revealed the news already this weekend.

"No, it was expected. We did think that because of tactical reasons they would only announce it at Silverstone". The Austrian also let it be known that he is happy that Red Bull can count on Hamilton's competition. "It's nice that we can drive against such a strong opponent. A two-year contract also shows some stability."