McLaren’s one-second-a-lap dominance is “alien” to Verstappen

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko is worried that McLaren’s Formula 1 advantage has turned into “a whole new world” lately, with reigning world champion Max Verstappen equally astonished.

Lando Norris was unrivalled in the recent Singapore Grand Prix, outqualifying Verstappen by two tenths for pole position before winning the race with a 21-second margin on the three-time champion – the gap having been as high as 29 seconds.

This marked the continuation of an eight-race winless drought for Red Bull and Verstappen, with just one pole position and three podium finishes to the Dutchman’s name in that period of time, while McLaren racked up four poles, as many wins and eleven top-three results.

Verstappen and Marko had “a long conversation” on the phone last week on Tuesday, during which Red Bull’s performance struggle compared to McLaren was brought up.

Asked in an interview with Motorsport.com’s sister publication Formel1.de what his driver told him then, Marko mentioned: “Well, that Lando’s dominance is alien, especially on medium tyres – he took nine tenths to one second per lap from us.

“Even if our car had been, let’s say, optimised, he couldn’t have driven those times on the medium. And we’re all wondering how he did it.”

Christian Horner, Team Principal, Red Bull Racing, Helmut Marko, Consultant, Red Bull Racing

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

“When Norris takes nine tenths to one second per lap from us, then it’s a whole new world. And don’t forget, in the second stint, [Charles] Leclerc was just as fast as Lando or almost a bit faster. So for us, I would almost say that second place was like a victory.”

While McLaren built its successful form on continuity, having opted to keep the same floor since the Miami Grand Prix back in May, Red Bull brought a “subtle” update to its own ahead of the Baku and Marina Bay rounds.

“It is a step in the right direction, but it is not enough,” Marko said of the upgraded Red Bull floor.

“They have worked very, very hard and have gained certain insights. It wasn’t a completely new floor, but parts of it were new. But I think the deciding factor will be performance in Austin, and there are a lot of other things coming.”

Team principal Christian Horner had described the Monza race as “the low point” for Red Bull after Verstappen finished sixth with a 38-second deficit to race winner Leclerc, and Marko agreed that it had been “more than a wake-up call”.

“It was the worst race since… I don’t know, I can’t remember when we got it so wrong in terms of strategy, pitstop, speed, everything,” he enumerated.

Sergio Perez, Red Bull Racing RB20

Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool

“But we are now on the right track. The car needs to have a wider operating window – not one where relatively small changes, or temperature differences of six or seven degrees, can affect performance.

“And then more speed and also more bandwidth so that Max can attack. We know that he needs a car with front-end bite. Because just relying on coming in second is not good enough,” he added, referring to the fact that Verstappen can still afford to take second place in every remaining race to win the drivers’ title.

However, with Red Bull now 41 points away from McLaren in the constructors’ championship and having scored 119 fewer points in the last six rounds – in no small part thanks to Sergio Perez failing to finish a single race in the top five since the Miami event – Marko conceded that this title battle was likely over “with the performance we currently have”.

“But I’m optimistic that if Max wins races again and Sergio can then achieve third or fourth place, then things will look different again,” he added. “But the focus is primarily on the drivers’ title for now.

“But if we achieve that – and I believe that’s only possible if Max wins at least two more races – then it will also look a bit more promising in the constructors’ championship.”