Helmut Marko with Max Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase - Photo: Race Pictures

Marko points out bright spot in Red Bull’s Baku performance on Friday

15:54, 19 Sep

byTobia Elia

Helmut Marko analyzed Red Bull’s Friday in Baku, with Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda finishing far from the leading positions.

Helmut Marko and Max Verstappen. Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

“We are in a position to fight at the front. On the qualifying lap, we need to find a tenth, maybe a tenth and a half”

- Helmut Marko

The Austrian consultant assessed the performance of his two drivers in both the qualifying simulation and race pace, admitting that they still need to find something over a single lap.

“In the long run, we are promising. I think we are in a position to fight at the front. On the qualifying lap, we need to find a tenth, maybe a tenth and a half. But that’s possible with some fine-tuning.”

Marko believes that Red Bull can also have its say on the Azerbaijani circuit and prove that Monza was not a one-off, predicting that a top-three result in qualifying is possible tomorrow.

“We can prove here that it was not a one-off event. I believe we will be in the top three tomorrow in qualifying. That means we can also fight for the win in the race. The momentum is there, the car has a wider window, and it’s easier to set up. So that is definitely a step forward.”

When asked if Red Bull can fight McLaren for the win, Marko added: “If I look at the long run times, yes. But we still have to find some improvement in qualifying.”

Finally, about Verstappen, he concluded: “Max is always asking for the maximum and he wants improvement and as I said he must find something qualifying but the improvement from FP1 to FP2 was significant.”

Red Bull off the pace in Baku's Friday

Red Bull experienced a mixed Friday in Baku. In the opening practice session, Yuki Tsunoda delivered a solid performance, finishing sixth and just ahead of his teammate, with both cars ending up about a second off the leading pace.

The second session turned out to be more difficult for the team. Tsunoda slipped back to fourteenth, while the four-time world champion managed sixth.

Despite the struggles over a single lap, the team’s long-run pace looked more encouraging, suggesting there is potential to fight closer to the front during the race.

Here are the full FP2 results.

See our latest F1 paddock update below!