Red Bull’s worrying Ferrari assessment with ‘both cars’ needed in the points

Helmut Marko says Red Bull need “both cars” to score good points in Mexico but fears Ferrari have the pace to take second off their hands in the Constructors’ Championship.

Ferrari followed up their United States Grand Prix 1-2 result with a pole position in Mexico, Carlos Sainz beating Max Verstappen by two-tenths of a second in qualifying.

Ferrari will ‘pass’ Red Bull for P2 in the standings

Overall, Ferrari had the best qualifying of the top three teams with Sainz on pole position and Charles Leclerc P4, while Red Bull had Verstappen P2 but Sergio Perez was down in 18th place.

McLaren also had a driver inside the top three with Lando Norris third as his team-mate Oscar Piastri also fell at the first hurdle as he was only 17th fastest.

The three teams will line up on the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez grid with just 48 points separating them in the Constructors’ Championship. McLaren are leading by 40 points over Red Bull with Ferrari in third, eight points further off the pace.

That could change come the end of Sunday’s 71-lap Grand Prix with Marko saying Red Bull need big points from both drivers to hold off Ferrari.

“We have to make sure that we have both cars well ahead in the points, because Ferrari is only eight points behind us in the Constructors’ Championship,” he told ORF.

Asked who has the ‘better cards’ in the championship battle, he replied: “It changes. Ferrari was clearly ahead in Austin. In the races before that it was McLaren. Then before that, Mercedes was dominant again in two races.

“But I think Ferrari is the most consistent at the moment.”

His only consolation is that Ferrari can also make life difficult for McLaren.

He added to De Telegraaf: “They are going to pass us anyway, but I think they will also make it very difficult for McLaren.”

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Helmut Marko explains Red Bull’s qualifying recovery

After Friday’s engine issues, Verstappen bounced back in Saturday’s final practice to clock the fourth fastest time. He was, however, over half a second down on McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.

Marko revealed Red Bull noted a deficit in sector 3, one the Red Bull engineers were able to resolve before Verstappen put in a “magical” lap.

“We kept losing three to four-tenths in sector 3 before qualifying,” he told Sky Deutschland. “We said ‘if we can do that, it will look good’. We managed to do that and it was of course another magical lap by Max.

“After he lost that initial time, he kept his nerves under control and drove an optimal lap.

“The engineers also deserve praise. They worked in the right direction. Our car only has a small window in which it works, but now everything was pointing in the right direction.”

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