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Former Red Bull chief advisor Helmut Marko has refused to rule out a rapid return to the sharp end for the Milton Keynes-based squad, despite a subdued opening phase to the Formula 1 season.
Red Bull has largely been missing from the lead battle across the first seven rounds, with just one podium to show for its efforts. That result came through Max Verstappen, who finished third at the Canadian Grand Prix, but the broader picture has been one of a team searching for the performance needed to rejoin the front-running group.
Mercedes, by contrast, has set the standard so far, winning six of the opening seven races. Yet Marko believes the competitive picture is not completely settled, particularly with reliability now forming part of the conversation around the current benchmark team.
“Under the new regulations, Mercedes is clearly the favourite,” Marko told Kleine Zeitung. “However, they’ve now suffered their second engine failure, which is unusual for them.”
Those failures came with George Russell in Canada and Kimi Antonelli in Barcelona, adding a note of uncertainty to an otherwise dominant Mercedes campaign.
The next key variable is development. Ferrari brought itself into the fight in Barcelona with a significant upgrade package, and Red Bull is expected to unveil a sizeable enhancement at its home round this weekend. For a team trying to recover ground, the timing is critical.
As the upgrade race intensifies, Red Bull’s Austrian package will inevitably draw attention, particularly given the wider focus on whether it can change the team’s competitive trajectory. For more on that development thread, read our analysis of why the Red Bull Austria upgrade will not close the RB22 gap.
Marko, however, remains optimistic that this stage of the regulatory cycle still offers meaningful scope for gains.
“Generally speaking, it has to be said that updates are certainly more effective at this stage of the regulations; you can gain a five-tenths-of-a-second advantage,” he said.
Marko also pointed to a potentially important baseline change for Red Bull, saying the team is now running a car at the weight limit for the first time.
“Red Bull is fielding a car at the weight limit for the first time, so they’ll certainly be in the mix too,” he added. “I hope Max can then compete at the front. Mercedes are the favourites, but the rest of the field is more than interesting.”
That final line captures the state of play: Mercedes remains the reference, Ferrari has moved closer, and Red Bull is preparing its response. Whether that is enough to put Verstappen back into regular contention at the front is now the defining question of the weekend.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.
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