General
Marko: "Unbelievable what that Ferrari engine did last year"
- GPblog.com
Red Bull Racing was the second team behind Mercedes in qualifying in Austria, but wasn't as close to pole as they had probably hoped beforehand. However, according to Helmut Marko, the gap is not as big as it seems now.
Max Verstappen was still the fastest man on the track in the first part of qualifying and in the second part he was confident enough to be the only one to try a different strategy. He was therefore allowed to start the race on Sunday on the medium tyre.
In the third part of qualifying, when it really was about pure speed, the final result might have been a bit disappointing. More than half a second behind Mercedes and just ahead of the McLaren of Lando Norris. Helmut Marko says they would have been better under optimal conditions.
"The setup didn't work. Realistically we are two or three tenths behind Mercedes", says the Austrian, who also hits out to the team that Red Bull tried to beat in qualifying here last year. "It's unbelievable what that Ferrari engine did last year," he says to Auto Bild.