Helmut Marko Claims Sergio Perez Had “No Chance of Winning” in Bahrain Despite Smartly Outplaying Ferrari

At the curtain raiser of the 2024 season, Red Bull did it again! The team that dominated last year is making it clear that the top positions are for the Red Bull drivers. Anticlimatically Max Verstappen won the first race and was followed by Sergio Perez at P2. But while the team beat Ferrari with a huge lead, Helmut Marko came forth to speak about his take on the race.

Although Red Bull finished in the top 2 places, there was a vast gap between Verstappen and Perez. The Dutch winner was 22.457 seconds ahead of his teammate at the end of the race. The difference between the skill of the two drivers is evident and Helmut Marko noticed this and had something to say about Checo.

Max Verstappen is just too fast to beat

Following the first race of the season, Helmut Marko spoke to Formula Passion about his take on the team’s performance. To this, the Red Bull director said, “We weren’t very sure after qualifying, but we found our strengths in the set-up. Max then took off, it was a very pleasant start, but a little unexpected.”

Marko explains how Checo was keeping Carlos Sainz Jr. away and says, “It wouldn’t have made sense for him to push more. He had third place under control and had no chance of winning. He absolutely had a tactically impeccable race, without ever pushing. Or rather: he could have gone faster, but there was no reason to do so.” With this, the Red Bull taskmaster broke down the strategy that Perez was implementing.

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Red Bull decided to keep the pressure on Ferrari with Checo, giving Verstappen the freedom to perfect his laps without worrying about other cars. With the next race being in Saudi Arabia, Marko said, “Jeddah is something completely different from Sakhir. Much faster. But the basis of our car is really good.” He instilled confidence in his team being able to perform well in the next race, with the RB20 being good enough to take on those roads.

What to expect from the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix?

The second race of the season will take place in Jeddah, and with that comes a chance for drivers to test the speeds of their cars. Jeddah Corniche Circuit comes with long straights and quick curves that have always brought up some of the most exciting moments in Formula One. The performance of the car is very important on this track, as some drivers could lose multiple seconds on the straights.

Helmut Marko has expressed his confidence in the car for the track and judging by how Ferrari performed in Bahrain, there is a chance we get to see a repeat of the last race. But then again, Mercedes has not been sitting idle and is making changes to their car to perform better. Lewis Hamilton ended at P7 and George Russell was at P5 and now McLaren is closing the gap in on Mercedes while Ferrari is chasing after the Red Bulls.

The other teams will need to put in a lot of work to get their cars ready to be competitive in Jeddah to make up places on the grid. But as anything can happen in F1, we will have to wait and see what happens on the coming weekend. Who do you think will triumph in Jeddah? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.