Marko questions Red Bull turnaround after sarcastic reply

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has insisted that the team may not be able to repeat its Qatar heroics in Abu Dhabi, following another miserable opening day. 

Four-time world champion Max Verstappen could only salvage 17th at the Yas Marina Circuit in second practice, and complained about the RB20’s driveability. 

Understeer was another problem raised by the 27-year-old, who was three places behind team-mate Sergio Perez. 

It is not the first time the Milton Keynes-based team has struggled on the opening day, having been towards the bottom of the timesheets on the first day in Qatar last weekend. 

However, on that occasion, Red Bull performed a remarkable turnaround, enough for Verstappen to claim a comfortable victory.

Following the opening day in Abu Dhabi, Marko sarcastically joked about where the outfit has taken momentum from. 

“Sarcastically, we took the momentum from Friday in Qatar,” Marko ORF. “There we were just as bad. 

“Will we manage to make the turnaround again? It will be difficult. We know roughly where the problem lies, but it’s still there. The car lacks balance and has too small a working window.”

Repeating what it did in Qatar is difficult for several reasons, one of which, as pointed out by Marko, is to do with the temperature. 

“It’s different temperatures again than in Qatar,” added Marko. “Let’s see what we can make of it.” 

The issue for Red Bull and why a turnaround like Qatar is not a guarantee, is that the problems are not the same. 

“But the problems are slightly different now,” said Marko. “It would be too easy.”