Marko on 'fast' Mercedes: "Have taken big step forward"

Verstappen finished with a 25-second lead over number two Lewis Hamilton in Barcelona, but the times are perhaps slightly skewed because the seven-time world champion slowed down in the final laps. After all, there wasn't much left to fight for, anyway. But leaving that aside, the margin to Hamilton was still around 20 seconds.

Either way, for Mercedes, it is a big improvement from a few weeks ago. "They made a big step forward and set very fast lap times," Marko at Sky complimented the rival. Mercedes was not so close to the speed of the RB19 in 2023 before, but it is all relative. "With the hard tyre, we didn't go so well. I look at our bolides. As long as we are still relatively well in front, that should reassure us."

Further development RB19

Red Bull does, however, have a handicap in terms of further development of the car. The Milton Keynes-based team has ten per cent less time in the wind tunnel due to exceeding its budget ceiling. Red Bull will no doubt not want to compromise on developing the 2024 RB20, so there may be a chance of introducing the latest updates to the RB19 early in the season.

Marko, however, is not all that worried about it. He thinks the impact of the penalty won't be too bad. "We are relaxed about it. What we have in the pipeline has been planned for a long time. We are two or three-tenths ahead, and that is quite a lot," he concluded on German television.