Red Bull trembles at home, Marko: “Sprint will fall apart if…”

The weather risks complicating the situation

After four race weekends with the classic format in Austria it will return Sprint. In Imola, Monaco, Canada and Spain, Red Bull had to work incessantly over the course of the three free practice sessions to try to make the RB20 more competitive after starting Friday’s free practice sessions with a set-up that was anything but slightly unsatisfactory.

In the pilots’ sights is the simulator, a ‘fundamental’ criticized by both Verstappen and Perez. Helmut Marko did not hide the fact that there are indeed correlation problems given that the numbers promised during the simulation are not supported when the track gives its verdict. The Sprint format in Austria could make things particularly complicated for the hosts given that the Sprint Qualifying will take place immediately after just one free practice session.

“If we start with the wrong set-up, the Sprint will fall apart”he said bluntly Helmut Marko reached by the Austrian newspaper oe24. The new rules relating to Parc Fermé will allow the teams to intervene on the cars after the Sprint, a positive aspect for Red Bull – and not only – compared to 2023 where the situation was frozen after just one free practice session for the entire period of the weekend. Red Bull already had several balance problems in Styria in 2022, with Ferrari dominating the Grand Prix after ‘missing’ success in the Sprint only due to the loss of time of Leclerc and Sainz in the internal battle between them in the first turns. A year ago, the superiority of the RB19 over the competition even allowed Verstappen to make an extra pit stop to also set the fastest lap at the end. This year it won’t be like that and the weather is ready to have a hand in turning the weekend into a lottery. The day on which the risk of rain is currently greatest is Friday.