F1 | Red Bull, Marko on Bahrain defeat: "We have made mistakes"
Red Bull's advisor, Helmut Marko, after the first race of the season stated that the team "did not act at a top level", making a few mistakes, and that Red Bull's performance was not enough to beat an outstanding Lewis Hamilton.
After the first GP of the season, in Bahrain, that confirmed the predictions that called Red Bull as the favourite, witnessing a super Max Verstappen and an amazing comeback in the 5th position for Sergio Perez, Helmut Marko, Red Bull's current advisor, revealed some small mistakes that cost Verstappen the victory.
"We had the strongest package in Bahrain, with Max and the car, but unlike Mercedes, we did not act at our top-level," Marko told F1-Insider.com.
Tyres were protagonists in Bahrain: the different strategies used by Mercedes and Red Bull defined the fate of the race. Verstappen dominated almost the whole GP and then he had to surrender to Lewis Hamilton in his "silver" arrow, who was able to take advantage of the opportunity.
"We have made small mistakes, for example in the choice of racing tyres. The fact that Max had problems with the differential at the beginning did not help either. In the end, we have to accept that our performance was not enough to beat an outstanding Lewis Hamilton in the Mercedes."
"A year ago, we would have signed the result like this. We have succeeded in putting pressure on Mercedes right from the beginning. And with two cars," Marko continued.
The 77-year-old Austrian former professional racing driver underlined the spectacular performance of the new member of the team, Checo Perez, who, after starting from the pit lane due to some technical problems that he had during the formation lap, managed to take home 10 very important points.
"Because Sergio Perez also delivered a great performance. Without his technical problems in the beginning, he could have got on the podium," the head of Red Bull's driver development program stated.
If this is the RB16B that everyone saw in Bahrain, everything suggests that in Imola and Portimao, high-load tracks, with full cornering performance, the advantage could be even bigger. Mercedes need to improve the W12, even if they're already one step ahead of everyone.
"The question is who has even more room for improvement. As for us: In Imola, we will more or less drive by the car that started in Bahrain. There, we have to put an end to the mistakes we made in Bahrain - then we are very well positioned," he concluded.
