Helmut Marko reveals when Red Bull will be ready to challenge McLaren in 2025 F1 season. Helmut Marko sets a timeline for when Red Bull can fight McLaren.

With his win in Saudi Arabia, Oscar Piastri became the leader in the Drivers’ Championship, taking the top spot from teammate Lando Norris. At the moment, the championship is all about McLaren, but the rivals aren’t giving up without a fight. According to Helmut Marko, Red Bull is working hard to catch up with the papaya-colored team.

Despite the trophy for second place, the Austrian team left Jeddah with a bitter feeling. Meanwhile, the incident between Yuki Tsunoda and Gasly at the start once again prevented the team from scoring points with both cars.

Then, there was the controversial incident involving Verstappen early in the race. The Dutchman didn’t get off to a great start and allowed Oscar Piastri to get alongside him heading into turn 1. At that point, the Red Bull driver completely cut the track without giving the position back, which led to a five-second penalty to be served at the first pit stop.

Those five seconds likely cost the Hasselt native his second win of the season. “I think it was a racing incident,” Marko confirmed in an interview with Motorsport.com. “If you look at F2, the same situation happened three or four times. No one got five seconds.”

The interviewer also asked the Austrian if the team had considered the option of giving the position back. “Overtaking is almost impossible, we had more opportunities with the pit stops and incoming traffic, so we were considering the possibility. For us, staying on track would have given us more chances,” said the consultant.

From Imola, it’s going to be a battle

“It cost us the race. The start didn’t go very well. It was the second phase, the one where he was losing a bit more. But once again, he braked later, so he was ahead. Anyway, Max was fast, and the positive thing is that our tires performed really well, we didn’t have any degradation,” Marko added.

In an overall negative Sunday, the Austrian still found a positive note in the good pace shown by the Dutch driver during the race. “Compared to Bahrain, we made great progress,” he said. “But this circuit suits us better: faster corners and so on. We’re making progress, and we’re getting a more predictable car that works in a broader range.”

“We’ll take small steps, and I think by Imola we should have the necessary speed to beat the McLarens.”