Max Verstappen chatting with Helmut Marko.
Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko said it has been a “long time” since they were on the ropes to this degree, highlighting Max Verstappen as the sole reason for their victory at Imola.
After McLaren’s Lando Norris shocked the Formula 1 paddock by driving his heavily-upgraded McLaren to a first career victory in Miami, Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes and Aston Martin all looked to respond with upgrade packages of their own at Imola.
Red Bull Imola victory ‘thanks to’ Max Verstappen
Red Bull and Verstappen had a rough start to the proceedings, as they were unable to secure a position among the top three during practice sessions. This raised concerns about their capability to compete for the pole position in the qualifying round. Verstappen, however, had accepted the possibility of finishing in the top five, but surprisingly claimed the pole position, maintaining his flawless record in F1 2024.
On race day, the Championship leader continued their winning streak by clinching the victory, despite a strong late challenge from Norris. Marko acknowledged Verstappen’s crucial role in securing this consecutive win for Red Bull.
“It’s very impressive to see,” Marko told De Telegraaf in reference to Verstappen’s Imola win.
Despite immense pressure from behind, Max manages to avoid making even the smallest mistake.
Thanks to him and his pole position on Saturday, we emerge victorious in this place.
If we were third on the grid, winning would have been out of the question.
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Marko expressed his definite concern about the Norris assault towards the end of the race, emphasizing that a few critical moments prevented Norris from being within DRS range of Verstappen.
Marko smiled as he remarked, “If there are more races like this, I’ll only feel older.”
“After a few laps on the hard tyre, it became evident that the temperature had decreased and our speed was lacking. This definitely caused some concern for me.”
Luckily, due to a brief pause, Lando was unable to employ the DRS system during the final laps.
However, McLaren’s successful performance at Imola has bolstered the belief that their MCL38 can remain a formidable competitor against Red Bull’s RB20 in the upcoming races. It is worth noting that Red Bull has been dominant in the ground effect era of Formula 1, winning the majority of grand prix races.
Marko confirmed that Red Bull has not faced such turbulent times in a while, as they struggled with finding the right balance for both individual laps and race runs at Imola.
He stated that although we have usually managed to improve situations over the weekends, the current circumstances are the worst they have been in a while.
We faced difficulties in achieving balance, both in short laps and long runs. Typically, it is either one or the other.
Verstappen’s Red Bull team-mate Sergio Perez, who managed only P8 at Imola, conceded the P2 spot in the Drivers’ Championship to Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc heading into Leclerc’s home race, the Monaco Grand Prix.
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