Marko still does not exclude title: "Championship is still wide open''

Prior to the 2020 Formula 1 season, Red Bull Racing's objective was to make Max Verstappen the youngest world champion, but that seems a lot harder than expected. However, Helmut Marko is not completely giving up hope yet.

Next weekend, Formula 1 will continue with the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza circuit. A track where power plays an important role and Red Bull in general does not come out well. At least, that is often what is thought beforehand. In the end Red Bull often turns out to have good pace at Monza.

''Last year we had against all odds a lot of speed at Spa and Monza. So experience shows that against all odds we can be very fast here. We also have a new front wing which has had a positive effect. It's not the optimal package yet, but we're getting close," says Marko to Motorsport-magazin.com.

However, the DAS system that Mercedes came up with during the winter tests will no longer be available at Red Bull. ''That's a closed book for us. It takes quite a lot of time to develop and integrate it properly, so we probably won't have it until the last race. Since it will be banned next year, it won't be of much use then'.

The championship still seems on paper to be a feasibility for Verstappen, but practice shows that Mercedes has too much of a lead over Red Bull to close that gap. Helmut Marko also recognises that it will be increasingly difficult to close this gap in 2020.

''The championship is still wide open. I am only thinking of 2012, where we closed a gap of 60 points on Fernando Alonso and Ferrari. Of course that is not the same as Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton, but at some point they have to stop being successful with everything. That happiness has to stop somewhere'', concludes the Austrian.