Marko: "The package did not give the result as in theory"
- GPblog.com
Red Bull Racing seems to be well behind Mercedes again in 2020. The Austrian formation managed to win only one of the first six Grands Prix with Max Verstappen. The team 86 points behind Mercedes in the constructors' championship.
Six updates at once
Advisor Helmut Marko still believes that Red Bull had their best winter for some time in 2020. According to the Austrian, there are two factors why Verstappen won only one of the first six Grands Prix: "We were much better prepared. But then we had a dog in the car", says Marko to Motorsport-Total.com.
According to Marko, the team has made great strides since the winter tests. "At the test in Barcelona, we had version 1. At the first race, we had version 6. That means all our development stages are based on CFD, wind tunnel and simulation only. Something happened somewhere and we're still struggling with the fact that we can't see the downforce we theoretically have on the track," Marko explains.
Delay
Marko says that the coronavirus has delayed Red Bull. "But we are gradually getting closer. At the first race, we were even slower than last year. There would have been one update for Melbourne, one for Barcelona and one for the Red Bull Ring. All that was skipped and we went straight to version 6. And when the combined package was actually on the car and on the track, it didn't give the result as in theory."
"Due to circumstances, we got a problem somewhere in update 1 to update 6. But Verstappen is the only one that Mercedes can keep up with. All the others are nowhere to be found. And Verstappen isn't that far away", concludes Marko.