F1 News: Helmut Marko Delivers Warning To Rivals In Upgrade Verdict - 'Fastest'

Saajan Jogia | Jul 20, 2024

Oct 23, 2022; Austin, Texas, USA; Helmut Marko of Red Bull Racing Team holds up the World Constructors' Champions trophy after the running of the U.S. Grand Prix F1 race at Circuit of the Americas. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports / Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports

Red Bull introduced a 'big upgrade' for the Hungarian Grand Prix this weekend for a much-needed performance boost, and senior advisor Helmut Marko claimed that the RB20 is back to being the fastest car on the grid after assessing the two practice sessions yesterday.

With the Formula 1 grid getting tighter by the race to the extent that McLaren had the fastest car in the past few Grands Prix, Red Bull quickly got to work to extract further performance from its RB20. Consequently, Max Verstappen's car will be equipped with the full upgrade package, minus the parts around the engine cover for Sergio Perez.

FP1 and FP2 offered the much-needed testing ground to assess the upgrade. Witnessing promising results, Marko believes that Red Bull can aim for a race win, but the car is still slower than McLaren's MCL38 on low fuel runs. In the long runs though, the RB20 remains quicker. Speaking to Viaplay, he said:

“The upgrades are basically working.

“We are just fine-tuning and so far we are absolutely satisfied by what we see. 

“We are just a small bit behind [Lando] Norris on the low-fuel run. But we were, on the long runs, the fastest.”

Marko explained that the big upgrade was more effective than the three smaller upgrades he witnessed in the past. The 81-year-old advisor is confident that the team can extract additional tenths from the car and appears relieved that it is back on the right track. He added:

“It was quite a big upgrade and it was working from the first moment.

“That is already different to the other three upgrades we had. 

“They were much smaller but they didn't show much effect. We are again on the right direction and I'm sure we will find more tenths in the car. I think we can fight for the win here.”