Helmut Marko with Max Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase - Photo: Race Pictures

Marko points out bright spot in Red Bull’s Baku performance on Friday

15:54, 19 Sep

Updated: 18:58, 19 Sep

byTobia Elia

Helmut Marko analyzed Red Bull’s Friday in Baku, with Max Verstappen and Yuki Tsunoda finishing far from the leading positions.

Helmut Marko and Max Verstappen. Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

“We are in a position to fight at the front. On the qualifying lap, we need to find a tenth, maybe a tenth and a half”

- Helmut Marko

The Austrian consultant assessed the performance of his two drivers in both the qualifying simulation and race pace, admitting that they still need to find something over a single lap.

“In the long run, we are promising. I think we are in a position to fight at the front. On the qualifying lap, we need to find a tenth, maybe a tenth and a half. But that’s possible with some fine-tuning.”

Marko believes that Red Bull can also have its say on the Azerbaijani circuit and prove that Monza was not a one-off, predicting that a top-three result in qualifying is possible tomorrow.

“We can prove here that it was not a one-off event. I believe we will be in the top three tomorrow in qualifying. That means we can also fight for the win in the race. The momentum is there, the car has a wider window, and it’s easier to set up. So that is definitely a step forward.”

When asked if Red Bull can fight McLaren for the win, Marko added: “If I look at the long run times, yes. But we still have to find some improvement in qualifying.”

Finally, about Verstappen, he concluded: “Max is always asking for the maximum and he wants improvement and as I said he must find something qualifying but the improvement from FP1 to FP2 was significant.”

Red Bull off the pace in Baku's Friday

Red Bull experienced a mixed Friday in Baku. In the opening practice session, Yuki Tsunoda delivered a solid performance, finishing sixth and just ahead of his teammate, with both cars ending up about a second off the leading pace.

The second session turned out to be more difficult for the team. Tsunoda slipped back to fourteenth, while the four-time world champion managed sixth.

Despite the struggles over a single lap, the team’s long-run pace looked more encouraging, suggesting there is potential to fight closer to the front during the race.

Here are the full FP2 results.

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