Understeer, oversteer and instability - Marko reveals Red Bull’s current issues
Following the difficult Italian Grand Prix, Red Bull motorsport advisor Dr Helmut Marko inisted that he was not surprised by the disappointing results given the RB20's current issues.
Although Red Bull looked fairly competitive at the start of the Italian Grand Prix weekend, their pace faded as the Monza round progressed. Max Verstappen finished down in P6 while his team-mate Sergio Perez ended up a further two places behind.
The Milton Keynes-based outfit's performance was heavily fluctuating over the weekend, showing great speed in the opening practice and in the first two segments of qualifying, but they lost momentum in Q3 only to suffer from graining in the race.
Asked by De Telegraaf to comment on the race, Red Bull’s motorsport advisor Dr. Helmut Marko claimed that he was not surprised by his team’s lack of speed at Monza.
“Disappointing result? No, no. We already expected things to go like this. I want to congratulate Ferrari for the victory and thank McLaren for their sportiness.
"I really appreciate it, it certainly made our situation a little better. Qualitatively and mentally, Max is still the best driver on the grid."
Speaking of the RB20' current performance, Marko said that the car has underlying balance issues, suffering both from understeer in certain corners and from oversteer in other turns.
"Ours was one of the slowest cars on the straights. We need to find a balance and evaluate when we have taken the wrong direction. In the race, we could not keep up with the leaders in strategy or pace.
"We simply lacked speed, and when Max pushed deeper, he suffered more graining problems."
"He couldn't use his incredible ability to drive to the limit because the car didn't allow him. It reacted unpredictably, with oversteer at times, understeer at others, and even unstable brakes in corners.
"At a certain point, with the updates, we lost the balance in the car, and now we can no longer go as fast as before. Here, it was just a matter of trying to control the problem," Marko said to Sky Germany.
