Marko thinks Verstappen will struggle and points out rival

It was a successful sprint race for Red Bull Racing. Besides Max Verstappen winning and Sergio Perez finishing on P3, Daniel Ricciardo surprised friend and foe alike by finishing in fourth place. Red Bull top advisorr Helmut Marko is therefore happy with the result, but he expects a tougher main race for Red Bull's main team.

In fact, Verstappen had almost nothing to fear after the first lap. Perez, on the other hand, had to fight for third place in the laps after the safety car, after Ricciardo took it away at the start. The Mexican eventually emerged victorious.

Marko is therefore proud of his team, telling the German branch of Sky Sports: "A great performance by Red Bull. We are very happy, but the sprint race did show that we need to improve for the race. From what we heard from Max, the rear is too unstable. Thank God we now have enough time to make the right adjustments."

The top adviser thinks his team will add a rival as the weekend progresses: "The main race will definitely be more difficult, because I think our biggest rival was Norris. He crashed out early [in the sprint race]. But you've seen that it's all very tight and overtaking is very difficult."

Marko continued: "We could keep Ferrari at bay with this set-up, but I think McLaren will be our biggest rival in the race. If Norris has a free lap, then we will have to improve. That seems clear to me."