Marko contradicts Verstappen after Red Bull's worrying day

Dr Helmut Marko has contradicted Max Verstappen's claims over Red Bull's worrying day at the Monaco Grand Prix.

Verstappen finished 11th and fourth in the two sessions in Monte Carlo, but complained of bouncing "like a kangaroo" and claiming he was left "with headaches" as a result. 

Post-FP2, he suggested that "there is no clear direction or solution for the weekend to try and solve something like that" and that the problems were not set-up related.

However, motorsport advisor Marko has contradicted those claims.

"All that time? We are not losing that much time at all and did not use the same engine modes as the others," Marko explained to Motorsport Magazin with Verstappen nearly half-a-second behind Charles Leclerc in FP2.

"The car is bouncing too much, that is true, but we recorded very good times in the long runs and also, the car bounced less with a lot of fuel onboard.

"But that is of no use if you don't start at the front. 

"Max needs confidence. When the car jumps up and down like a kangaroo, you don't know where it is going to jump.

"He has already hit the wall,  so there's work to do to minimise the bouncing, but he definitely has speed."

Leclerc favourite

Marko made Leclerc the favourite for pole position at the Monegasque's home race as his FP2 time was actually faster than Verstappen's 2023 pole effort, but still felt Red Bull was on the up between sessions.

 "We made progress between the first and second sessions," he added.

"Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Leclerc all turned up the engine as well, we were closer to Leclerc in the second session, although he is still the favourite [for pole]."