Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has admitted that the team was surprised that McLaren’s Lando Norris breezed past Max Verstappen in Formula 1’s Dutch Grand Prix.
McLaren imposed a crushing defeat on Red Bull on F1’s return last weekend as Norris turned pole position into a crushing 22-second win over home hero Verstappen.
Verstappen seized the line at the start, but he was unable to prevent Norris surging back through on Lap 18 to go on and record the greatest winning margin this term.
McLaren, which brought upgrades to Zandvoort, has now eradicated Red Bull’s advantage to the Constructors’ Championship to 30 points with nine rounds remaining.
However, based on McLaren’s recent showing, Marko has conceded that Red Bull is worried that it could also lose the other title despite Verstappen’s 70-point margin.
“If you look at his fastest lap – from Lando – in his very last lap without DRS, [he did a] 1:13.8,” Marko told Autosport.
“So, as Max said before the summer break, the team has to work harder and must find improvements because like that his championship is in threat.”
Asked to expand on which championship he was referring to with that statement, Marko responded: “Both, both, both.”
Marko has proclaimed that the ease with which Norris passed Verstappen staggered Red Bull as it anticipated that a win was on the cards when it assumed the lead.
But the Austrian has concurred with Red Bull boss Christian Horner in the admission that Verstappen was weak on the straights due to a set-up choice that backfired.
“We believed if he wins the start, we can win the race,” Marko said.
“But what was strange [was Oscar] Piastri was nearly the same speed as Lando and once he got behind [Charles] Leclerc, it was over.
“But when Max was caught by Lando he just passed on and went away, so I don’t know what’s the difference and why.
“But, the main thing was our tyre wear was much worse than the McLaren and there was nothing [to be done].
“Also on the set-up, maybe we put more wing on Max, which Checo did have less wing and in the second stint I think Checo was faster than Max. So, maybe that was the wrong decision.”
Marko has asserted that Red Bull must bring new parts to “evere race” to improve both the RB20’s pace and handling amid Verstappen’s complaints over car balance.
“There are a lot of ideas and different ways,” he said on Red Bull’s updates. “But because of the summer break we couldn’t do anything – but we have to do something.
“It goes together. We must understand the car better, that there is more balance because with more balance it’s more confidence for the driver and less tyre wear.
“But the updates have to bring an improvement – not only theoretically, also time-wise.”
He added: “We also had some upgrades [at the Hungarian Grand Prix in July]. But timewise it didn’t show the same result as they showed on the simulations.”
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