Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko suggests that the Sprint format which returns this weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix could pose a problem for Red Bull, particularly because there will only be one free practice session in Spielberg.
Since the Monaco Grand Prix, championship leader Max Verstappen has had the greatest difficulty immediately finding the right balance on his car at the start of each weekend and each time he has to wait until the third free practice session to finally manage to obtain a correct balance allowing him to fight at the front in qualifying.
This problem appeared on the streets of Monaco, but also in Canada or more recently in Spain last weekend where the Red Bull driver needed several free practice sessions before finding a good balance with his RB20.
This weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix, the Sprint format makes its big return to F1, which means that drivers will only be allowed one free practice session on Friday, before participating directly in Sprint qualification. The next day, they will compete in the Sprint race and qualifying, the result of which will determine the starting grid for Sunday’s Austrian Grand Prix (see the progress of the Sprint weekend here).
In this context, Helmut Marko expects Red Bull to struggle at Spielberg: “Another challenge awaits us at Spielberg. Max still has a chance to win, but we will do a Sprint weekend there and that means we will only have one session to tune the car. » explains the Austrian to Speedweek, a media owned by Red Bull.
“We always needed the three free practice sessions to get the car back to half-balance. If this problem persists, it could make our lives difficult. »
In Austria, Helmut Marko expects McLaren to be competitive again as was the case in Spain during the last round which took place on the Barcelona track where Max Verstappen encountered precisely the same problem with balance from the start of the weekend, unlike McLaren which is competitive from the start of the weekend on any track.
“McLaren had the fastest car [en Espagne] because we arrived on the track on Friday with an unbalanced car and we had to wait until qualifying to be half competitive. » Marko added.
“We could already see that on Friday during the long runs, where McLaren was clearly faster than us. McLaren simply has the car that works with any tyre on any track, more or less immediately.”
McLaren is strong at Spielberg
Last year, McLaren started to be more and more competitive starting at the Austrian Grand Prix where the Woking team introduced a first big update to its MCL60. Lando Norris finished just off the podium in 2023 at Spielberg and Helmut Marko therefore expects McLaren to be very strong again this weekend on the Austrian track.
“Last year saw the resurrection of McLaren at the Red Bull Ring. That’s where they made their upgrade, and from there they were fast. » insisted Helmut Marko.
“However, Max [Verstappen] drives almost perfectly, and thank goodness Lando [Norris] can’t do it yet, but it remains our main competitor. »
Before the Austrian Grand Prix, Red Bull still leads the Constructors’ World Championship with 330 points scored since the start of the year, 60 more than Ferrari and 93 more than McLaren in third.
