Marko Suggests McLaren Caught Up With Red Bull Because They 'Copy Better'
F1Friday, 31 May 2024 at 10:27
Red Bull's motorsport advisor Helmut Marko recently explained why he thought some teams were better than the Austrian team in Monaco.
The Monaco Grand Prix was Red Bull's worst race weekend of the season so far. The team from Milton Keynes came out of the principality, having scored only eight points for Max Verstappen's P6.
The Austrian team's RB20 clearly couldn't match Ferrari's SF-24 or McLaren's MCL38. Red Bull's lead in both Championships decreased significantly last weekend, and Marko already warned that even the upcoming Canadian Grand Prix might be difficult for his team.
How is it that Red Bull, which started the season with a 20-second lead over everyone, suddenly became third or fourth fastest at Circuit de Monaco? Helmut Marko told OE24:
"We are now in our third year with the current regulations, and people copy. Some copy better, and you can see the result now at McLaren. Ferrari has also constantly developed further."
The truth is that almost all the cars started moving towards Red Bull's concept over the last two seasons. However, the thing is that you cannot beat someone by only copying them.
Neither Ferrari nor McLaren struggled with the same problem as Red Bull did in Monaco. The Austrian team's car was undrivable over the curbs, so they lost a lot of time.
Marko revealed after the weekend that the issue with curb-riding runs even deeper as the team's simulator showed there should be no problem.
Whenever simulations don't match the real world, it becomes very challenging for the team, which is actually what we've also seen with Mercedes over the last two seasons. Marko said:
"Our two drivers came to Monte Carlo enthusiastically and said that the car handled the curbs really well. But as soon as they were in the car, they said: undrivable."
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