Despite a strong driver line-up, an excellent chassis and an ever-improving engine, Helmut Marko believes the chances of Red Bull Racing winning the world title in 2018 is low. Red Bull had put up an excellent fight in almost every grand prix in the last leg of the 2017 season, winning the races in Malaysia and Mexico.
While Marko is certain the Milton Keynes-based outfit will continue to be at the top of the grid, he believes winning the title is a much bigger challenge.
“I don’t think we’re in a situation where we can already go for the world championship,” Marko told Auto, Motor und Sport.
The Austrian admited that Ferrari’s ability to put their full weight behind Sebastian Vettel is an advantage. But the equal treatment that Red Bull follows for their driver pair Daniel Ricciardo and Max Verstappen will help push the whole team ahead, he added.
“If you have two equally strong drivers, they both go for maximum performance, and they push the technicians and the chassis to peak performance.
“But when you have only one driver that goes to the limit, you do not know where you really are.”
He said Red Bull will continue to challenge the big two teams, Ferrari and Mercedes for race wins, starting right from the first grand prix. Thanks to the timely development of its new car RB14 and the progress that Renault has achieved in its latest power unit, the Austrian team is ready to be a challenger at Melbourne.
There is also worry about how much the rivals have advanced over the winter.
“The Renault engine should be more reliable and powerful in 2018, and we’ll be fighting with a competitive chassis at the outset.
“But Mercedes is producing a new engine, so the question is whether they’ll have an even bigger advantage. If the engine does what we’re promised, then we should be a lot closer to Mercedes.”
Adrian Newey’s new design inputs to improve RB14’s chassis is promising and is expected to give the team an edge right from the time the pre-season testing kicks in.
“Adrian saw that for the first time that we were able to beat Mercedes on our own and that you can race at the front when the engine is performing well.
“In the past, we’ve always been stronger in the second half of the season. The analysis showed that we always tried to leave it as late as possible, but it doesn’t help to try and find a few hundredths every two weeks.
“It’s more important that you go into the season well prepared.”