Following Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix, Helmut Marko admits that reliability is not Red Bull‘s solely concern.
Understandably, Max Verstappen has been left extraordinarily involved about his title hopes following Sunday’s Australian Grand Prix which witnessed his second DNF of the season.
Consequently, the Dutchman drops to sixth within the standings, trailing his predominant rival by 46 factors – primarily two wins.
As in Bahrain, the place each Bulls did not make it to the tip, the reason for Verstappen’s retirement in Melbourne is known to be fule system associated, however not the identical as that which affected the group within the season opener.
Nevertheless, whereas the Milton Keynes based mostly outfit seems into the precise reason behind Sunday’s DNF, Helmut Marko warns that reliability is not the one downside the group is dealing with.
“There are two or possibly three various things at play,” the Austrian instructed Red Bull‘s personal Servus TV. “Firstly, the reliability issues, which we hardly had final yr.
“However the deficit to Ferrari was additionally alarming in the present day,” he continued. “They only managed the tempo, if Max upped the tempo, Leclerc might react simply.
“We have been negatively shocked by the pace of Ferrari,” he admitted. “That they had nearly no graining and we already had some after a couple of laps. Ferrari can discover a good steadiness with their automotive extra simply.”
Then there’s the difficulty dealing with a lot of groups… weight.
“We’re clearly heavier than the Ferrari,” Marko admitted. “I believe now we have a weight handicap of about 10 kilograms. Transformed to lap time, that equates to about three-tenths per lap.
“Reducing the burden is pricey,” he added, the price range cap that means that any cash spent on coping with the burden will imply much less out there to spend on updates because the title struggle intensifies. “To begin with, it is a monetary subject and secondly additionally it is associated to reliability. So it’s a tough cut up because of the price range cap.
“We face tough occasions,” he sighed.
