Marko is not worried: "The gap is actually only one tenth"

Red Bull Racing failed to beat Ferrari in qualifying for the French Grand Prix. Yet Helmut Marko believes the actual gap between the two rivals is smaller. The Red Bull adviser, therefore, believes Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez can come back in the race.

The difference between Charles Leclerc and Verstappen was over three tenths in qualifying, but Marko does not believe Ferrari were that far ahead of his team. With Carlos Sainz starting from the back of the grid on Sunday due to a grid penalty, he helped Leclerc with a slipstream in Q3. As a result, the Monegasque gained a little more time compared to the Red Bull drivers.

"It was a clever play with Ferrari's slipstream. The gap is marginal, in reality, it is only one-tenth," Marko told ServusTV. The Red Bull advisor expects his team to beat Ferrari in the race. Leclerc will be put under pressure by the Red Bull cars behind him, while Sainz must start again from the last row of the grid.

"We have a good race pace. The tyre wear is within limits and in FP3 we showed good times in the long runs. We have two cars at the front, so we have a good starting position in the race," the Austrian said.