Red Bull have new rivals to deal with in the 2022 Formula 1 season, in the form of a resurgent Ferrari, but Helmut Marko is not worried the new rivalry will turn ugly like Mercedes in 2021.
With Mercedes having their own troubles to tend to this year, Red Bull are now fighting with Ferrari, as the Italian team seem to have hit the ground “sprinting” with their new F1-75.
The first two rounds of the 2022 season have been a fight between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc, with round two in Saudi Arabia going to the former after a thrilling showdown towards the end of the race. And as it seems – unless Mercedes get their act together real soon – this Red and Blue rivalry is set to follow on through this season.
“It’s a new rivalry,” Helmut Marko said to De Telegraaf. “Mercedes is at least half a second too slow at the moment, but who knows, they may be able to solve their problems.
“But we don’t sleep either. We work hard to further develop the car,” the Austrian insisted.
“I think it’s more beautiful to fight with Leclerc and Ferrari than with Mercedes. It is now more on a sporting level. I know we’ve only had two races, but I don’t think it will escalate like Mercedes,” Marko predicted.
Adrian Newey: It was really tight, wasn’t it?
Red Bull’s Chief Technical Officer Adrian Newey spoke to Sky Sports F1 after the race in Saudi Arabia after the close race between Verstappen and Leclerc and said: “It was really tight, wasn’t it?
“The performance of our car and Ferrari’s seemed to be absolutely identical through the whole race,” he added. “We saw it in Bahrain, we saw it here [in Saudi Arabia].
Newey predicted a development war between the rival teams, but warned that the budget cap should play a factor in that war.
“There seems to be so little to choose between the two of them,” the Briton pointed out. “I guess it’s just going to be a big development war now, but it’s also a development war with one hand tied behind our backs, with the cost cap.
“With the budget cap, we’ve got to be more focused on what we bring in when. So it’s going to be a different one, but just as interesting,” he mused.
Nevertheless, Newey was happy with the points the team scored in Saudi Arabia after Bahrain’s double DNF for.
“Our season’s finally got off the mark after the disappointment of last weekend,” he said. “It’s good to bounce back.”
2022 has started ?? pic.twitter.com/gfhgM8E2a9
— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) March 28, 2022