Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has warned that things “could look different” for the team at this weekend’s Formula 1 Monaco Grand Prix after storming to victory at Imola last time out.
Max Verstappen dominated proceedings in Italy to take his second win of the season, leaving the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris floundering in his wake.
Much of Verstappen’s triumph was put down to the upgrades the team brought to its tricky RB21, as well as its ability to perform better on tracks with higher-speed corners.
“The car is now doing what Max wants again,” Marko told OE24. “That’s down to the updates, which have thankfully worked.”
However, Monaco is, of course, a different animal in many respects, and Marko was quick to point out that a repeat of Imola is not guaranteed, and may even be highly unlikely.
“That was just Imola, things could look very different again at the next Grand Prix,” he said, adding Monaco is “a completely different circuit with only slow corners.”
Marko concluded: “Things could be a lot worse there” for Verstappen.
Verstappen predicts Monaco could be another tricky affair for Red Bull
Red Bull found Monaco a tricky circuit to negotiate last year, with Verstappen coming home in sixth place, 13 seconds down on winner Charles Leclerc.
Verstappen told media, including Motorsport Week, after his Imola triumph that the principality will likely prove to be a tricky race, echoing Marko’s caution.
“Monaco is, of course, very, very different [from Imola]. So, let’s see how we are going to perform there,” he said. “Last year was very difficult for us. I don’t expect it to be a lot easier this time around because there’s, of course, a lot of low speed, but we’ll see.
“I mean, it’s just one race on the calendar, where you try to do the best you can. Even after that, there’s a lot of races left, but, of course, you can clearly see that once we go to high-speed tracks and corners, then we are more competitive.”
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