Marko: Red Bull Sees Mekies’ Impact – Improvement Noted

After a few difficult weekends, Red Bull Racing on Monza immediately came out a lot better. The RB21 from Max Verstappen was equipped with a few updates and they paid off, since he won the pole position – his 45th on behalf of the Austrian team. It already started with the “best Friday we have had,” says Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko in conversation with the German branch of Sky Sports F1. “To be honest, I can’t remember when we last had such a good Friday,” says Marko. “We have slightly adjusted our philosophy for free practice sessions, chosen a different approach.”

“We have a new floor on the car and Max felt comfortable from the start,” Marko continues. “Step by step we further refined the car. We were always close by, but on Friday we mainly lost time in sector 1. We solved that and we also adjusted the car in such a way that it would be strong in the race. We went for a balance with relatively little downforce, because our top speed was not impressive for pole. A tenth – which is a huge advantage nowadays. “

According to Marko, that time saving is primarily a combination of two factors: Verstappen’s talent and the adjustments that he makes together with racing engineer Gianpiero Lambiase. “He gives his racing engineer extremely precise instructions, such as where and how small improvements are still possible,” explains Marko. “We are talking about hundredths, thousandths of a second, and also about things like tire pressure and temperature. And then he performs it perfectly. At his first run in the third sector, the tires were already phasing out, but he knew that perfectly. There he also drove the fastest time and he even broke the job record. It is therefore a combination of the enginial but ultimately the engin. Perform. “

Tackling Mekies

So Marko speaks of a different philosophy in the structure of a race weekend, something that he says is largely due to team boss Laurent Mekies – who has been at the helm of the team since the team of Belgium after twenty years of Christian Horner. He states that Mekies has “a big” influence on that philosophy. “That approach comes directly from him,” the Austrian emphasizes. “On a technical level, communication within the team has improved considerably and that has a positive effect on the entire team. You can see it at Yuki, for example [Tsunoda]he was tenth. To be honest, I can’t remember when he last achieved Q3. You clearly feel the upward trend. “

So there is plenty of optimism at Marko, even though the statistics do not speak so much in favor of the Polesitter on Monza. The Polesitter De Grand Prix of Italy was unable to win in the last five years. Yet Marko keeps hope that Verstappen can change that. “Catching up has become a lot harder since 2019,” Marko cites one of the arguments. “For example, we also saw that in Spa, where you normally have great catch -up opportunities on the long straight pieces – and even there it was not easy. I think that if Max drives in front, he can manage his lap times and tire wear as needed. Our lung runs on Friday were by far the best.