McLaren Surges Ahead as Red Bull Faces Major Title Loss
Sep.16 - "Honest" F1 team consultant Dr Helmut Marko thinks the constructors' championship is slipping away from Red Bull.
With Max Verstappen still grappling with poor car handling and Sergio Perez crashing out of the Azerbaijan GP, McLaren took over the lead in the teams' title battle and now sits 20 points ahead.
"To be honest, yes," Marko told Sky Deutschland at Baku when asked if the constructors' championship is now unrealistic for Red Bull in 2024.
"Now we have to be careful not to lose the drivers' championship as well, but we only lost three points here. That's ok."
Former F1 driver Ralf Schumacher agrees: "I think Red Bull will finish third at best in the team standings if things continue like this.
"Ferrari also have a good car," he said. "It will be tight for Red Bull to hold on to second place."
Mercifully for Red Bull, Lando Norris had an abysmal qualifying at Baku and could ultimately only finish one place ahead of Verstappen on Sunday. The triple world champion's lead therefore only shrunk to 59 points.
"The positive thing is that (Oscar) Piastri is very close to Lando in terms of points," Marko noted. "So whether it's a team or a papaya order, there won't be any clarity on that any time soon."
Perez's huge late-race crash on Sunday, however, was described as a "massive setback for us".
"We will definitely be able to get the car ready for Singapore, but not in the specification we had planned. The test actions we had planned for Singapore are now no longer possible."
Red Bull clearly made progress with new floor specifications for both drivers in Baku, but Verstappen rued a pre-qualifying setup change that he says made the car almost undriveable.
"It felt very, very bad to me," the Dutch driver told Viaplay. "I had no speed at all.
"In the slow corners I was bouncing in all directions and often had one wheel off the ground. It was like being in a kart, except with no grip.
"Next week in Singapore is also very bumpy," added Verstappen, "so we have to see how we can prepare the car better there."
Marko says Red Bull is eagerly looking beyond Singapore to the US GP in Austin, where a major car upgrade will debut. "In Singapore, we have to see how we can get by," he said.
"Then we have to take the next step in Austin, otherwise the drivers' championship will also be in danger. We have to find speed and the car has to be easier to set up.
"But we believe that from Austin we will have a package that should make us more competitive. Probably even very competitive," added the 81-year-old Austrian.
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No surprises there! Red Bull have dropped the ball and left to pay the price without Newey's guidance.
I still believe Max will win the WDC, however, McLaren will win the WCC with their superior car and driver pairing.
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