Helmut Marko delivers Ferrari blow despite eye-catching Silverstone pace

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko is unconvinced by Ferrari's pace at the British Grand Prix as he pointed to the Italian squad's tyre performance as a potential setback.

Lewis Hamilton topped the first practice session at the Silverstone Circuit on Friday before ending FP2 in third, narrowly behind team-mate Charles Leclerc.

Ferrari has endured a difficult F1 campaign thus far and remains the only top team in the top four of the standings yet to take a place on the top step of the podium.

Following its lightning fast start to the British GP weekend, its hopes for a victory on Sunday have been questioned by Marko, who noticed its tyres were graining before the rest of the front-runners.

“What I saw, Hamilton had massive graining after quite a few laps, Mercedes also had graining,” Marko told media including RacingNews365.

“And our graining was reasonable, like McLaren's. So that's a good sign.”

Max Verstappen was the leading Red Bull car in fifth place, half a second down on Lando Norris.

Marko asserted more time can be found as it is dealing with an understeer issue in the middle sector.

“We made a big step from FP1 to FP2,” Marko stated.

“But still, we have to find the right balance and we have to get rid of massive understeer in two or three corners.

“The long run was more promising. So if we can find the problems or cure the problems, I think we would be competitive.”