Red Bull’s top executive, Helmut Marko, has mixed feelings about the first training day for the decisive Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi. World Championship leader Lando Norris was faster than Max Verstappen in both VT1 and VT2, with the margin in the second session being over three-tenths, which is significant. “This is not a very comfortable starting situation,” said the Austrian immediately after the event, with a sense of understatement. “But we’ve had worse Fridays.”
“We lost a lot in the last sector due to understeer, even during the long runs. And in those, the tyre degradation was also more than expected,” Marko analysed in the Abu Dhabi paddock after Max Verstappen’s second training. “But this was Friday, and we’ve had worse Fridays this season. We still have one training session to go, hopefully adjustments to the setup will move us further in the desired direction. No, the situation is not alarming, but it’s also not very comfortable.”
‘Ferrari and Mercedes not fast enough’
With regard to the title fight, in which Verstappen starts the last race of the season on Sunday with a twelve-point deficit to Norris, Marko said he expects little support from Mercedes and Ferrari. “I think they are not fast enough.”
Marko says he does not count on a new blunder from McLaren, after the mistake with the floorboards in Las Vegas and the wrong assessment at the safety car situation in Qatar. “I would like it, but we cannot assume that McLaren will make three mistakes in a row. We will have to do it on our own strength.”
