Red Bull boss Helmut Marko stated that his team is no longer "the favorites" coming into the ninth round of the season at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Pretty much all F1 teams introduced their major upgrades at some point between the Miami and Emilia Romagna Grand Prix. What is significant is that since the 2024 Miami Grand Prix, Red Bull only won one race.
This stat might highlight two things. First, the tracks that F1 has been to in the meantime didn't suit the team from Milton Keynes. Second, rivals such as Ferrari and McLaren are catching up at a rapid pace.
In fact, both Ferrari and McLaren have amassed more points than the Austrian F1 team in the last three races. Coming into the Canadian Grand Prix, Scuderia stands only 24 points behind Red Bull in the Constructors' Championship.
Speaking to Kronen Zeitung ahead of this race weekend, Red Bull's motorsport advisor Helmut Marko asserted that Red Bull's dominance came to an end during the last three races.
"We have lost the dominance of the first three races, the competition has caught up in the third year of the current regulations, copied some things and even improved them."
"There is not much room for innovation anymore. This is simply a logical development, nothing defamatory."
If Ferrari and McLaren had copied something from Red Bull, they would have indeed improved them because they didn't struggle with the same issues as the Austrian F1 team did in Monaco.
Red Bull's main problem now is that their car loses stability while riding over the curbs (which is what will be needed in Canada). Marko now said Ferrari is better in that respect, adding that Red Bull is not the "favorite" in Canada.
"Ferrari is better in this respect, also in terms of top speed. The fact is, we are not going to Canada as favorites!"