Marko on RB18: "We lost almost a second there at times"

Helmut Marko saw Max Verstappen in first place early in the sprint race in Brazil, but the Red Bull Racing driver eventually dropped to fourth place. He had to acknowledge his superiority to George Russell, Carlos Sainz and Lewis Hamilton. Marko knows his team went wrong somewhere.

"The mediums didn't work, it was the wrong choice. But our weakness was in the middle sector. We lost almost a second there sometimes and we were just not fast enough," Marko is honest in conversation with Sky's German branch . "It will be hard work and solving problems overnight. We can't change much. Mercedes was strong, we have to acknowledge that without envy, and now we are going to see what we can do for tomorrow."

Tyre degradation was particularly high in the RB18s of Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Marko cannot put his finger on it exactly yet. "It something we did wrong or the others just got so much better. In his fight, Max suffered from front tyre overheating quite quickly." Verstappen was able to hold off George Russell twice, but by the third time it was over for the Limburger.

Verstappen and Marko agree

Verstappen also ticked off that his Mexican teammate on softs also lacked the pace of the Mercedes. Marko agrees. "Sergio couldn't keep up with Hamilton's pace by a long shot either. Well, his tyres also gave out at the end. So, a lot of things went wrong or didn't go as we imagined."