Behind the Strategy: Why Marko's Watching Lawson Closely

Mar.16 - It's only round one of 24, but George Russell thinks the 2025 season is basically done and dusted.

"McLaren has such a big gap to the others that they could stop development already and focus completely on 2026," said the Mercedes driver.

Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher senses deep disappointment in the Mercedes camp that the team looks set to complete the entire 2022-2025 rules era just sniffing at the tail end of the bottom step of the podium.

"Toto Wolff stood in front of the cameras looking perplexed yet again," he told Bild newspaper at Albert Park. "And with a rookie like Kimi Antonelli, it won't be any easier."

Indeed, multiple rookies have had difficult season openers in Australia - including Liam Lawson, who so far is looking no better than Sergio Perez in the sister Red Bull.

"He wanted to show what he can do," Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko said after qualifying, "and unfortunately that went wrong.

"We have to let him cool down a bit now and observe his development over the first three to five races."

Given how well Yuki Tsunoda performed in the junior Racing Bulls car, Marko's quote is ominous. McLaren CEO Zak Brown couldn't resist a cheeky jibe:

"They seem to make some strange driver choices at Red Bull," he said. "Especially when you look at a performance like Yuki's."

Haas rookie Oliver Bearman also had a scrappy opening start to his season. "Multiple accidents in one weekend are simply unacceptable," Marko observed.

But even seasoned veteran, and F1's most successful driver in history - Lewis Hamilton - failed to make a mark in Melbourne. "If Ferrari's interest is competitiveness, I would have saved a lot of money on the salary and taken someone else," Alpine advisor Flavio Briatore told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

Hamilton, though, was contrite. "I went into FP1 here and realised 'Okay, I still have a long way to go."

But even Charles Leclerc is more than disappointed with Ferrari's poor pace. "Even in the worst case scenario I didn't imagine this," he said after qualifying P7.

As for Red Bull, however, Marko is relieved that what appeared to be a much bigger gap to McLaren at the start of the weekend shrunk as the event progressed.

"I already won 500 euros from Jos (Verstappen), because he thought we would give up five tenths to McLaren," he told De Telegraaf. "Compared to the test days in Bahrain, we have taken a big step."

Max Verstappen, however, insisted after qualifying: "We're definitely not at McLaren's level. No one can argue with that."

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