McLaren Clearly Superior in Australia
“18 points more than last year.” Max Verstappen finished the Australian Grand Prix visibly satisfied, as confirmed by his radio exchange with his engineer Gianpiero Lambiase after the checkered flag. “On days like this, you usually finish third, so coming in second is even better,” Max Verstappen added to F1TV after the podium ceremony and FIA press conference.
However, McLaren has shown that it is currently clearly superior, as Max Verstappen had already anticipated before the race weekend. “The gap is quite large and won’t disappear anytime soon,” he added, looking ahead to the Chinese GP, which will also feature a Sprint Race on Saturday.
Helmut Marko provided a more precise timeline for Red Bull’s plan to bring the RB21 up to McLaren’s level: “We know what our problems are, and we’re working on them,” Helmut Marko said after the race. “We expect to improve our performance and reach their level in 3-5 races. We knew after testing that we were half a second or three-tenths behind. At the start of the race, Verstappen kept up with the McLaren drivers, but then tire degradation kicked in, and there was nothing we could do. The changing weather conditions allowed Max to stay in the fight, and in the final laps, he was faster than Norris, but overtaking was impossible. He tried to force Norris into a mistake, but Lando didn’t slip up.” – the Red Bull advisor pointed out.
In the closing stages, Lando Norris‘ car was damaged after his earlier excursion into the gravel, so Max Verstappen’s apparent speed advantage—or rather Norris’ lack of pace—was due to that incident. Looking at the calendar, Helmut Marko has set the Bahrain GP, scheduled in a month, as the first race where Red Bull hopes to pose a real threat to McLaren.
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