Marko thinks he knows the cause of Mercedes' problems

When Red Bull Racing decided to take over Honda's engine project after its departure from Formula 1, a significant portion of Mercedes' workforce was drained. According to Helmut Marko, this involved about fifty people from the engine department of the rival team.

Marko states in conversation with Formel1.de that Red Bull has snatched a lot of staff from Mercedes. He calls the size of the loss for the German racing stable 'not insignificant' and thinks it has caused its rivals 'some difficulties.'

Mercedes' problems are currently a lot bigger than the loss of the aforementioned fifty staff members. Marko, however, is convinced that the team can eventually compete for victories again, but that it will have to do so without the superior power source it could rely on for years.

The Red Bull Racing advisor believes that Mercedes' current deficit may be due to problems with the new E10 fuel, which initially caused all teams to lose out on engine power. However, according to Marko, Mercedes would have more problems with it than the other Formula One teams.