“Something Isn’t Working Correctly” – Marko Opens Up on Red Bull’s São Paulo Struggles
1. Marko drops public admission of RB21 weakness
Hours after Max Verstappen qualified an alarming sixth for Thursday’s São Paulo Sprint, Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr. Helmut Marko delivered a blunt assessment: “Something isn’t working correctly on the car.” Speaking to Motorsport.com France, the 82-year-old conceded that the reigning world champions are no longer setting the aerodynamic or mechanical benchmarks in the paddock .
2. Verstappen’s twilight nightmare
Track temperatures of 43 °C exposed the RB21’s unpredictable aero platform. Verstappen complained of chronic under-steer through the high-speed Ferradura right-hander followed by snap over-steer on entry to the Descida do Lago chicane. A last-gasp front-wing adjustment failed to cure the imbalance, leaving the Dutchman 0.337s off pole-sitter Lando Norris and only a thousandth ahead of Fernando Alonso.
3. Wind sensitivity and tyre-window misery
Marko pinpointed two culprits: “We are far too sensitive to gusting wind, and we cannot keep the soft tyre inside the working window on the out-lap.” Data from the session shows the RB21 losing 0.18 s alone in the second sector where cross-winds reached 18 km/h. Once the tyre surface drops below 92 °C, grip collapses; Verstappen’s final flyer registered 89 °C on the left-front, explaining his plaintive radio cry of “no front-end bite”.
4. Development race lost since Singapore upgrade
Since the Singapore floor update, Red Bull have slipped from qualifying pacesetters to third-fastest package. McLaren’s latest beam-wing and Mercedes’ revised floor have out-developed the Milton Keynes squad. Marko warned: “We thought we had understood the car after Austin, but the numbers on the sim do not correlate with what the driver feels on track.” Wind-tunnel hours have already been re-allocated toward a revised floor scheduled for the Las Vegas GP, three races away.
5. Championship implications
Verstappen now sits 42 points behind Norris with four rounds left. Starting outside the top eight in Saturday’s Sprint risks further damage; the Dutchman has not finished lower than fifth all season. Marko accepts the title is slipping: “If we do not fix the balance for Friday qualifying, we are looking at damage limitation rather than attack.”
6. Overnight counter-measures
Track-side engineers will revert to the pre-Singapore floor, raise minimum tyre pressures by 0.5 psi and open brake-duct exits by 8 mm to stabilise rear-end temperature. Verstappen wants an aggressive low-downforce rear-wing level for better straight-line speed, but Marko cautions “we cannot chase top speed if we have no corner confidence.”
7. What Marko’s frankness means internally
Public admissions are rare from Red Bull’s hierarchy; Marko’s comments signal both urgency and a plea for rapid solutions. With budget-cap scrutiny tight, the team cannot afford a costly re-design, making correlation fixes between simulator, wind tunnel and track imperative before the season reaches the Middle-East double-header.
Source:
Motorsport.com France – « Chez Red Bull, quelque chose ne fonctionne pas correctement »