McLaren driver Lando Norris.
Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko hinted McLaren are running a competitive ‘copy’ of their car, with the Woking-based team among the chasing pack that are getting closer to the World Championship leaders.
In Miami, Lando Norris achieved his inaugural career victory. He then gave Max Verstappen a tough competition in Imola, while Oscar Piastri secured second place behind Charles Leclerc from Ferrari in Monaco. Red Bull faced a challenging time in terms of pace in comparison.
Helmut Marko: ‘Some copy better, and you can see the result at McLaren’
Additional reporting by Sam Cooper
While Red Bull are still well clear in the Constructors’ standings and Verstappen holds a comfortable lead in the Drivers’ Championship at this early stage of the season, both McLaren and Ferrari appear to have made strides in closing the competitive gap to Red Bull from the start of the year.
Team principal Christian Horner attributes this partially to the reigning champions facing the law of diminishing returns, while others still have room to improve. On the other hand, Marko believes that Red Bull’s competitors are trying to emulate their success at the forefront of the field.
In the past two seasons, Red Bull has been the dominant force in Formula 1. It is not uncommon for teams to imitate the leading car, and Marko believes this trend continues in the present era of the sport.
According to the Austrian publication OE24, Marko stated that they are currently in the third year of operating under the existing regulations, and there has been an increase in people imitating their methods.
“Some copy better, and you can now see the result at McLaren. Ferrari has also constantly developed further.
“Our two drivers arrived in Monte Carlo full of enthusiasm, expressing their initial impression that the car handled wonderfully over the kerbs. However, their excitement quickly turned to disappointment once they got behind the wheel, as they deemed the car to be completely unmanageable.”
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At present, McLaren is closing in on Red Bull at the forefront. However, team principal Andrea Stella is uncertain if this accurately reflects the current competitive landscape.
Instead, he plans to wait for more races to see if McLaren can maintain their current competitive position. This decision comes as Red Bull has faced difficulties negotiating the kerbs and bumps in both Imola and Monaco races.
“I think the picture of competitiveness for Red Bull is not entirely clear to me,” Stella told media including PlanetF1.com in Monaco.
It is evident that both Imola and Monaco tracks require riders to navigate kerbs and bumps for optimal performance. To a lesser extent, this holds true for Miami as well, although not as significantly.
In my opinion, I don’t believe our progress can solely be attributed to our increased competitiveness in these particular aspects. I believe it is a result of genuinely improving our car’s downforce capabilities.
The main limitation we still face here in Monaco is the behavior on kerbs and bumps, which our two drivers are not happy with, if anything.
However, I’m not entirely certain about the situation with Red Bull. I believe we require a few additional races to gather more information, especially since the upcoming race in Canada is known for its challenging kerbs and bumps.
“After Canada, I believe that certain tracks will provide a clearer understanding of the level of competitiveness.”
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