Marko issues Red Bull title warning

Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko has issued Red Bull a warning that it risks losing both championships to McLaren. 

Lando Norris cruised to victory last weekend in the Dutch Grand Prix, reducing Max Verstappen advantage in the drivers' standings to 70 points. 

The British driver finished 22.9s ahead of the three-time world champion, marking the biggest winning margin by a non-Red Bull driver since Lewis Hamilton won the 2021 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. 

With Oscar Piastri also finishing in fourth, McLaren reduced Red Bull's lead in the constructors' championship to a slim 30 points. 

Verstappen was defeated by Norris with ease, leading to Marko insisting that the engineers at the Milton Keynes-based team must design improvements for the RB20. 

"The conditions here were ideal for McLaren and we just couldn't get going," Marko told Sky DE. 

"But not all circuits are like that. Our engineers have to come up with something, that's for sure. To finish second nine times, that's not enough [to win the championship]."

Red Bull upgrades coming

There was a clear performance difference between McLaren and Red Bull in Zandvoort, with tyre management having been a concern for the latter. 

Verstappen complained multiple times of losing grip, whilst Norris set the fastest lap of the race on the final lap without the benefit of DRS and on extremely old hard tyres. 

It was a dominant display by Norris which Red Bull can only "dream" of, according to Marko. For Red Bull, it is now a race against time to introduce new parts it is currently working on.

"Overall, McLaren's clear superiority was underlined by the fastest lap in the 1:13s, without DRS on the very last lap," Marko told ServusTV.

"We can only dream of such a time. So we still have a lot of work to do. We know roughly where the problems lie.

"We need more balance in the car. More balance means the driver has more confidence and the car slides less, which at the same time improves tire wear.

"There are some things in the pipeline."