Helmut Marko downplays McLaren's lead and sees opportunities for Verstappen

18:50, 04 Jul

byTim Kraaij

Helmut Marko is optimistic about the chances of Max Verstappen and Red Bull Racing at Silverstone. According to Red Bull's top advisor, the gap with McLaren is smaller than it seemed during Friday's training sessions.

Max Verstappen finished the first free practice in tenth place and the second free practice for the British Grand Prix in fifth. Verstappen was almost five tenths slower than Lando Norris in the second session. According to Marko, however, this difference could be remedied with a few minor adjustments.

‘’We made a big step from FP1 to FP2, but we still need to find the right balance. We need to get rid of the massive understeer we have in two or three corners. If we can solve that...... The long run was promising, so if we can find and cure the problems, then we can be competitive.’’

The problems with understeer seemed more significant over a single lap on Friday than during the long run: ‘’Yes, strangely, it was more of a problem in the single laps.’’

Text continues below the image.

Max Verstappen in his RB21 at Silverstone

Can Verstappen win at Silverstone?

In the past, Red Bull sometimes used a different engine mode on Fridays, but when questioned by GPblog, Marko said about that now: ‘’No, that has nothing to do with it now. We need to have better balance.’’

During FP1 and FP2, Ferrari was often found at the front. Lewis Hamilton finished the first free practice as the fastest, and the Ferrari’s were found in second and third place in FP2. However, Marko believes that Ferrari is not a threat to Red Bull Racing.

‘’They had a lot of graining after a few laps (in the long run), just like Mercedes. For us graining looked quite good. We were also quite fast in some laps, so that was a good sign.’’

According to Marko, the gap with McLaren is not as large as it seemed on Friday: ‘’No, not so much. We lose three tenths in sector two, and that's two or three corners. So, that's the understeer.''