Marko admits Red Bull's error: 'It would be helpful if we had it'
F1 News
- Nicole Mulder
On the first day of the Las Vegas Grand Prix weekend, Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez felt uncomfortable in the RB20. Verstappen complained of balance problems and, in particular, could not keep pace over one lap. Helmut Marko confirmed to GPblog and others that Red Bull Racing may have made the wrong choice with a different rear wing. However, the advisor is hopeful that the Austrian team can make a step forward before qualifying.
It's a while before Marko emerges from the Red Bull garage to speak to a select group of media. The 81-year-old Austrian seems to be walking down the long corridor towards the paddock with lead in his shoes after two difficult sessions for his team. When he gets to the media, he goes into detail about how the first and second free practice sessions went.
Marko is not satisfied with Red Bull's performance:
Asked about performance in both the long runs and qualifying laps, Marko is not exactly enthusiastic. His face speaks volumes. "In the short run, we didn't go out with a soft tyre. The long run was only partly good. Some laps were competitive, but then the rear tyres were disappearing. So there were flashes of speed, we just had to get a consistency into it," he began.
Verstappen was clearly not happy with the balance in his F1 car but saw no reason to panic yet. Marko agrees with his star driver: "We had three attempts on the medium tyre. On the last lap, he had to abort. I think there was a yellow or something. But basically, we made an improvement. We didn't show it on the timetable."
Has Red Bull made the wrong decision?
There was talk of Red Bull's rear wing, which hasn't been working well in the conditions of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit and would cause Verstappen and Sergio Perez to lose more than half a second per lap. According to Marko, the team had no other choice.
"We don't have another rear wing," he said. The current wing is not ideal, and Marko can confirm that. "It would be a smaller rear wing, as we see it on our competitors, it would be more helpful, for sure." However, there is no way for Red Bull to drive with another rear wing this weekend, he reveals with a somewhat cynical laugh.
Not all the loss of performance was due to the rear wing, however. According to Marko, Red Bull was also driving with less engine power. He is, therefore, confident that the team can take a step towards qualifying. "We will for sure make a reasonable step, yes," he replied to a question from GPblog.
"You know there was the 38.5 in the long run. It was a competitive time at that time. There were flashes of speed. We need more balance and more consistency."
"We need more balance. And we need, I think, on the single lap we can improve, but in the long run, the tyre wear is a problem at the moment." He adds that Red Bull is not the only team with that problem. "I haven't seen the complete tyre picture, but what I have heard, some of the competitors have quite a bad tyre wear as well," he concluded.
This article was written in collaboration with Toby Nixon
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