Lining up fourth on the Brazilian Sprint grid, Helmut
Marko believes it will be “impossible” for Max Verstappen to keep up with the
front-row starting McLarens.
Oscar Piastri snatched pole position for the Brazilian Grand
Prix Sprint from Lando Norris to head a McLaren 1-2, with Verstappen in
fourth and Sergio Perez down in 13th.
‘Impossible’ for Red Bull to beat McLaren in Sprint
McLaren had the better of Red Bull throughout Friday’s
running with Norris setting the pace in practice and following that up with
back-to-back P1s in SQ1 and SQ2.
However, it was Piastri who came through in SQ3 as McLaren,
dominant in the middle sector with their new scooped rear wing, secured the
1-2. The Aussie finished 0.029s ahead of his British team-mate with Charles
Leclerc third. Verstappen in fourth place was over three-tenths down on the
leading McLaren.
Explaining that Red Bull are losing too much time to the
MCL38 at medium speed Descida do Lago and Pinheirinho corners, Marko says
challenging McLaren for the win will be “impossible”.
“We are too slow,” Marko told Sky Deutschland.
“In Turn Four and Nine we lose way too much to McLaren.
“There are several problems [and] the uneven track also
doesn’t help when the car goes over the kerbs too much. Then the car starts
bouncing.
“I think with McLaren it will be very difficult, or
impossible to keep up.
“Charles Leclerc and Ferrari seem within reach, at least in
the Sprint race. But the gap is very big given the short lap.”
That big gap over a short lap has Verstappen worried about
what he can achieve in Saturday’s Sprint.
“It’s extremely bumpy everywhere, so that’s not good for our
car. In all the bumpy areas the car is jumping around a lot and it’s costing me
quite a bit of time, unfortunately,” he told F1TV.
“Normally, when you are already quite a bit off over one
lap, I don’t think we are particularly the strongest in the race, so we’ll have
to see how that goes tomorrow in the Sprint.”
Verstappen is
47 points ahead of Norris with four rounds to go with eight points on
offer in Saturday’s Sprint.
As for Perez, he
will line up 13th after failing to cross the line in time to start a
second flying lap in SQ2.
Marko explained: “The original plan was to do only one lap.
Unfortunately, it turned out too late that this lap was not enough.”
Although Red Bull changed Perez’s chassis after his woeful Mexican GP weekend, the 34-year-old was half a second down on Verstappen in SQ2 where the Dutchman also only did one flying lap.
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