Max Verstappen showed the 4th fastest time in qualifying for the sprint, Sergio Perez only started from 13th position in the short race on Saturday and according to Helmut Marko these results are partly due to the peculiarities of the circuit in Sao Paulo, where it looks like the bumps have only increased despite the completely new asphalt surface.
The fact is that a number of weaknesses of the RB20 chassis appear precisely on circuits characterized by uneven asphalt, or where you have to actively climb curbs. In addition, the Milton Keynes team’s car has a fairly narrow range of optimal settings, and all this, according to Red Bull’s motorsport advisor, makes it impossible to compete on an equal footing with the faster McLaren cars.
‘We’re too slow. In turns 4 and 9 we lose too much to McLaren,” Marco told Sky Sport Deutschland. “This is due to several problems, including the unevenness of the track. When our car attacks the curbs too much, it starts to bounce and loses stability.
I think it will be very difficult to compete with McLaren, and de facto it will be impossible to overtake them. It looks like we can still compete with Charles Leclerc and Ferrari, at least in the sprint. But the gap is still very big, as there is a short circuit on the Brazilian circuit.”
At the same time, Marco praised the work of Liam Lawson, who showed good speed in qualifying yesterday with the VCARB 01 car and will start from 8th position today. That one. this time the New Zealand driver, who took the place of Daniel Ricciardo in Visa RB, was comfortably ahead of his teammate Yuki Tsunoda.
“Liam had a lot of confidence again, even though it was the first time he drove on this circuit, he performed flawlessly,” said the 81-year-old Austrian. “Even in the qualifying final, when the pressure was maximum, he performed well.”
In the sprint at the Sao Paulo circuit, the entire front row will be occupied by McLaren drivers, with Oscar Piastri beating Lando Norris for pole, while the second row will be filled by Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari and the Red Bull by Max Verstappen. But Carlos Sainz and George Russell start the race behind them, and they are very capable of causing problems for those starting from the front two rows.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
