Marko: Sometimes patience is the best virtue a driver can have!

Despite a mighty driver force in Max Verstappen and Daniel Ricciardo, the Red Bull RB13 has not been a piece of kit that does justice to their skills and abilities and has prompted Helmut Marko to call for patience while acknowledging that there are problems.

Marko told the official F1 website, “We have two problems: Renault had some reliability issues, which have slowed them down in the development; and we didn’t deliver the chassis that we should have done. But we are working day and night to pick up our shortcomings.”

“We are pretty optimistic that we will make a significant step forward in Barcelona where a big change of parts is coming. So sometimes patience is the best virtue a driver can have!”

The outspoken Austrian pointed out, “In Australia we were 1.8 seconds behind, in China it was 1.3 seconds and in Bahrain something in the range of nine-tenths. So we are improving and step by step closing the gap – but it is, of course, not enough.”

“Looking at qualifying where the cars show their sheer speed, we know that Mercedes has a qualification mode – and to a certain extent also Ferrari – and that helps them a lot. And by constantly closing the gap to them I would say that the direction we are moving in is promising.”

“And as you don’t get any points in qualifying, it is good news that in the race we are usually stronger if problems don’t stop us like on Sunday when Max suffered a brake issue.”

It is accepted in Formula 1 circles that increasingly it is becoming unlikely that a customer team can take on and beat the manufacturer teams. Red Bull are aware of this and are expecting Formula 1 to make it possible (and attractive) for independent engine suppliers to win in the future.

Marko said, “The latest must be 2021 that an independent engine supplier comes into F1. This is more than necessary – and the engine has to be simple, noisy and on the cost side below ten million.”

“We are talking about a much less sophisticated engine to what we have now – a simple racing engine. There are enough companies around that could supply. So we expect from the new owners together with the FIA to find a solution at the latest by the end of this season. If that doesn’t happen our stay in F1 is not secured,” he added.

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