Helmut Marko On Red Bull’s Current Struggles

The 2024 car development saga appears to be an onerous challenge for several teams contesting on the current Formula 1 grid. Among them, surprising that it may sound, appears to be a certain Red Bull outfit, which as seen during the most recent Formula 1 Grand Prix, seems to be straddled in the car development ‘war’ (if one could call it that).

Under these circumstances, Dr. Helmut Marko, a long time resource with the Milton Keynes outfit has alluded to the fact that should Red Bull make similar errors like the one we saw on the streets of Monte Carlo, things could get tougher on the car development front, considering this is actually a very long season.

But before we jump into what Dr. Helmut Marko shared most recently, it is important to recall what exactly transpired on the famous streets of the salubrious principality.

Max Verstappen registered a P6 (sixth on the grid) in what was his lowest performance so far in this 2024 season. On the other hand, not long after his teammate Sergio Perez got knocked out of Q1 on Saturday, the Mexican was involved in a rather unfortunate scuffle for little fault of his own, which ultimately compromised his race and saw him crash out in a scary fashion.

But while Perez escaped unhurt- and fortunately so- his car suffered massive damage, which as per Dr. Helmut Marko could leave the team severely handicapped as far as the car development is concerned this season.

So the big question is, what did Dr. Marko say in the aftermath of the recent Monaco Grand Prix, a rare event where just one Red Bull car collected points and as seen previously in 2024, yet another race where a Red Bull driver wasn’t standing on the top step of the podium?

“That clearly affects us, because there are considerations about what to do with the car. In the worst case, this means that we can do less development. If we have to do something extra due to the greater competitiveness of Ferrari and McLaren, we are obviously handicapped.”

Having said that, what would concern the Red Bull fans and fans of its drivers is the following statement that Dr Helmut Marko offered, which connects the forthcoming results for both the cars:

Speaking on the subject of the kind of crash that hampered Perez’s Monaco drive, the noted Austrian elaborated in no uncertain terms that, “If there is another crash, not everything will be there for both cars.”

Having said that, Perez will have to up his game if he is to pick up the title fight once again with his mercurial teammate Max Verstappen. The Mexican would want to reflect on the fact that, where it stands at the moment, then he is currently fifth on the ratings while the biggest jump has been made by the sport’s most recent race winner: Charles Leclerc.