Marko: We can win the title in 2019!
Mar.22 - Dr Helmut Marko remains convinced that Red Bull can win the 2019 world championship.
In Australia, Mercedes dominated the season opener but it was Max Verstappen, rather than either of the Ferraris, who shared the podium with the silver-clad drivers.
"I think we will fight for the world championship this year," Marko told Italy's La Gazzetta dello Sport.
"We have the best young driver of the moment in Verstappen, and a good car with a powerful and reliable engine.
"They all said I was stupid for signing with Honda, but as usual I ended up being right," Marko said.
"For example, thanks to the professionalism of the Japanese, we were able to replace Verstappen's chassis in Australia without issue.
"These days we talk with Honda about designing the best possible car, while before we had to wait for the engine and adapt ourselves to them," Marko added.
Red Bull was clearly behind Mercedes in Australia, but Marko is confident the team will catch up with Honda's help.
"We are hoping for an evolution of the Honda engine soon, and we believe that, throughout the year, we will get to the level of Mercedes and Ferrari," said Marko.
But he says the basic package for 2019 is already good.
"We have not started with such a strong car for years," said Marko. "Pierre Gasly could have finished in front of Vettel if it wasn't for qualifying."
✅ Check out more posts with related topics:
It was only a month ago he said that RBR was half a second ahead of Mercedes and two tenths behind Ferrari. The Media must love this guy. Always willing to stick his arrogant neck out and tell the world what he wants to be true. On a different note I hope that Renault and Honda level the field a bit this year but it's too far to talk about a reliable engine after one completed race.
Completely agree, although I think some of his bravado is to put pressure on Newey to up his game from its lacklustre current stage.
People are writing off Ferrari at their own peril. Not for nothing Ferrari has won more championships than any other car in this history of Formula 1.
I agree Ferrari are still very much there or thereabouts. It's a new season with new aero and new tyres and Melbourne is never the best test. Give it a couple of more races for them to get their setup right and it may well be a three car fight for the WDC, which is what all race fans want to see.
Marko needs to start waking up to reality. He says he is always right- well he is a dreamer to say the least! Ferrari haven't started yet- Red Bull/Marko stop the bulls**t and get back into the real F1 world!
✅ Checkout the latest 50 F1 Fans comments.