Formula 1 News: McLaren stumble gives Red Bull ‘hope’ – Marko

(GMM) Red Bull F1 team advisor Dr Helmut Marko (pictured) is leaving Canada feeling “very satisfied” wearing his rose colored glasses.

Initially pessimistic heading into the Montreal round, the reality was that dominant rival McLaren had an ‘off’ weekend while Mercedes’ George Russell raced to the front.

Although delighted with his win from pole, Russell admitted he doesn’t feel in with a shout of the drivers’ title – unless McLaren continue to mess up.

Indeed, while championship Oscar Piastri maximized the outcome with P4, teammate Lando Norris made clear errors not only in qualifying but also the race.

“I think the two of us have been very consistent and getting the maximum result from our packages week in, week out,” said Russell, also referring to Max Verstappen, who qualified and finished P2.

“But I can’t imagine them (McLaren) continuing to throw away points in the manner they’re doing.”

The big post-race headline, of course, was Norris’ crash into the back of the sister McLaren. Verstappen agrees with Russell that titles are not won off the back of rivals’ errors.

“We need to start winning races more often,” the quadruple world champion said after the checkered flag. “And how do we do that? By being more competitive.”

Nonetheless, Red Bull advisor Marko allowed himself a moment of optimism.

“We’re very satisfied,” he told Servus TV. “We were on par with Mercedes and McLaren. That gives us a boost for the next races.”

However, team boss Christian Horner admits that McLaren “should be at the front” next time out in Austria.

Marko is allowing himself a glimmer of hope.

“We saw that McLaren was fast, but they couldn’t overtake and therefore couldn’t dominate. This is encouraging for the next races,” said the Austrian.

“It gives us hope. The Red Bull Ring is another circuit with a different configuration, but we have seen that McLaren can be beaten – if you do everything right.”