Red Bull driver Max Verstappen took the Canadian GP by storm as he took another win on Sunday. He maintained a lead of 9.5 seconds from Fernando Alonso in dry conditions. This record is significant as his last two wins came with a lead of 27 and 24 seconds in Spain and Monaco respectively.
Helmut Marko is a divisive member of the racing community known for his controversial remarks. This time he has made headlines by claiming that both Red Bull rivals, Ferrari and Mercedes have come nowhere near Red Bull in terms of pace and race wins.
Helmut Marko cautions Ferrari, Mercedes over Canada GP victory
Helmut Marko who is the head of the driver development program at Red Bull discussed the recent race saying, “We couldn’t bring the tires on [to] temperature, especially the hard tire, we couldn’t get the right temperature.”
“Everybody thinks the Red Bull is fantastic. Yes, it’s a good car, but Ferrari and also Mercedes – they didn’t improve from last year; I think they reversed at the beginning of the season. So, when we are not at our best, they are nearer. It’s as easy as that,” he added.
However, in other statements made by Helmut Marko, he was seen as cautious of Ferrari’s pace and being thankful that they started behind Red Bull, or else it could have been a different story.
It is understandable that Marko may share a bias towards Redbull given the fact that he works for the company, but that doesn’t really justify undermining noticeable achievements from some of his biggest rivals.
Max Verstappen complained about difficult downshifts in his Red Bull RB19
Despite securing Red Bull’s 100th win and equaling Senna’s race-win record while doing so. Max Verstappen had his own difficulties during the race.
Max Verstappen was constantly heard on the radio complaining about poor downshifts within his Red Bull RB19. It seemed like a tough job to get to grips with how his gearbox was handling throughout the weekend.
“Firstly, I expected more or less what we had today, but it was, like I said, really difficult to just keep the grip, the temperature into the tires because the grip was disappearing very quickly. That’s why maybe the gap was not that big,” he commented after the race.
The rivalry between teams is barely there anymore and despite Helmut Marko’s poor attempt at throwing shade, there is some substance to what he said. As both Ferrari nor Mercedes are so far unsuccessful to get a hold of themselves and catch the fiery and fast Red Bull driver. Stay tuned to see if they catch up or not.
