Marko skeptical: "If something goes wrong it could ruin the entire weekend"

At Silverstone, the introduction of a much-discussed format is scheduled: the sprint race. For the first time, the drivers will drive a race to determine the starting grid for Sunday. Not everyone is in favour of this kind of change: also Helmut Marko, who is sceptical about the new format.

The Formula One weekend at Silverstone will see a significant change to the schedule. On Friday the first free practice will take place, followed by a qualifying session. This determines the starting grid for the sprint race on Saturday. On Saturday, a second practice session takes place before the qualifying race.

Red Bull Racing chief Helmut Marko expresses his concerns about that programme. "If something goes wrong on Friday, it could ruin the whole weekend," he says in conversation with Speedweek.com. "The first practice session is the only chance to check your form because after that the parc fermé regulations apply. That means you can only correct something in the second practice session on Saturday." For that reason, Marko says Red Bull Racing will not use any new parts on the cars that have not been driven yet.

The Red Bull advisor doesn't believe the story that Mercedes would have thrown in the towel and wouldn't come up with any more updates, something that has been denied by Mercedes themselves. "You always want to continue getting the best out of it. Mercedes only gives up when there is no mathematical chance", Marko said.