"Fighting spirit" back at Red Bull says Marko and highlights "great opportunity" to close the gap to McLaren

The Austrian team just missed out on victory at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, with Max Verstappen's five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, relinquishing his lead, with Oscar Piastri overtaking and controlling the rest of the Grand Prix.

However, despite that, Marko remains highly optimistic, with the 81-year-old believing the internal struggle between Piastri and Lando Norris at McLaren could work in favour of Verstappen in the battle for the world championship.

Following the Grand Prix in Jeddah, Piastri took the lead in the championship after his win, but with Verstappen just twelve points behind, and only two points behind Norris, Marko states in an interview that the current standing in the championship is ‘not alarming’.

"I recall we were more than forty points behind with Vettel at one point, and yet we became world champions", he notes in an interview with ORF.

The spirit and union within the team is, according to Marko, unwavering: "The fighting spirit is there, and we know our weaknesses", he says. "At some point, the technical improvements will have their effect."

With McLaren looking very impressive to start the season, Red Bull are closely monitoring the new power dynamics at the top: "We prefer some variation. Sometimes one wins, then the other", Marko continued.

"That’s actually a great opportunity for us, that the two of them battle it out", he explains, with Piastri and Norris unlikely to simply comply with team orders, it is something that could work to Red Bull's advantage, the advisor believes.

Despite the missed victory in Jeddah, Marko looks back on the weekend positively. "If someone had told us on Friday that we'd finish second, we would have cheered", he admits.

However, Marko did say it was ‘somewhat frustrating’ that Red Bull and Verstappen couldn't convert their P1 into a win, especially as the improvements made to the RB21 looked promising: "The good news is that we've proven our speed. We were on par in terms of tire wear. That gives us confidence for the future."

Marko states that Red Bull is following a development program to address the weaknesses of the RB21, particularly its narrow optimal operating window: It's not happening in big steps, but small ones. I think we'll truly see the results at the first European race in Imola."

Asked whether Red Bull could soon beat McLaren on their own merit, Marko answers optimistically: "If our car is in the right operating window, we’re just as fast – and then we still have the Max-factor."

If not, as in Bahrain, Marko admits it becomes much harder: "But we're working hard on it, and until then we need to ensure we keep scoring as many points as possible."