Helmut Marko says Red Bull is counting down the days to Formula 1’s summer break, insisting the championship winning squad “urgently needs” to take a breather and regroup.
In Hungary last weekend, the Milton Keynes-based outfit and its star driver Max Verstappen suffered their third consecutive defeat, this time at the hands of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris who claimed a dominant 1-2 for McLaren.
Verstappen endured a challenging afternoon at the Hungaroring, ultimately crossing the checkered flag fifth after escaping a heavy clash with Lewis Hamilton in the closing stages of the event.
However, the Dutchman’s frustration was palpable for the entire duration of the 70-lap event as he chastised his team over the radio for leaving him exposed to several undercuts by his rivals, and argued with race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase before he vented his frustration with Hamilton in the wake of the pair’s run-in.
Speaking after the race with Austrian broadcaster ORF, Marko admitted that Red Bull was indeed guilty of faulty pre-race planning and sub-optimal execution in Sunday’s race.
“It is clear that this is entirely the fault of the team,” Marko said. “All simulations resulted in a different delta for overtaking manoeuvres. But we completely misjudged it and Mercedes took advantage of that.
“I haven’t talked to him [Verstappen] yet, but I will soon. We consciously accepted this [the team radio frustration] because we thought we would be faster on newer tyres later.
“If you know Verstappen, you know this is possible. But it is not necessary [heard] on board the radio.
“That wasn’t the case and we couldn’t pass Hamilton. That’s our mistake and the position in which Max came back on track after the first pit stop was also our fault. We admit that we made a mistake. It was a gross error of judgement with regard to overtaking.”
Marko suggested that it was time for Red Bull to take stock of the first half of its season and regroup, a process it will conduct during F1’s summer break that will begin right after next weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.
“We urgently need it,” commented the Austrian. “In the first three races we thought we were going to have a similar season to last year, but then suddenly there was the turnaround.
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“Max is not used to that and we are also not used enough to the fact that you have to fight hard with competitors. That’s something that makes it better for fans and journalists, of course, but we have to endure that situation and eventually master the situation.
“We’re still in the lead in both championships. There are still a lot of races, so we shouldn’t pretend that everything is lost. But we absolutely cannot afford the small and easy mistakes.”
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