Red Bull Motorsport Advisor Helmut Marko has questioned Frederic Vasseur's attitude towards Ferrari's early-season struggles. The Scuderia have failed to make an appearance on the podium so far in 2023 despite having been Red Bull's nearest rivals last term, falling behind Mercedes and Aston Martin to become the fourth-quickest team after the opening three races of the new campaign. While the performance of the SF-23 has been under par, with high tyre degradation hampering their charge at the season-opening Bahrain Grand Prix, a lack of reliability will have rung alarm bells following on from the pain of last year's issues with the power unit. Charles Leclerc used two Control Electronics units in Bahrain and was forced into taking a 10-place grid drop in Saudi Arabia, with further penalties likely to follow later in the season. Such issues have provided Vasseur with a baptism of fire since leaving Alfa Romeo to become Team Principal in place of Mattia Binotto in January. The Frenchman has provided an outlook of hope and optimism despite the lacklustre start to the year.
Mercedes bouncing back?
Mercedes have also struggled to get to grips with new machinery in the opening stages of the year, but bounced back somewhat with second place in Australia courtesy of Lewis Hamilton. Speaking to Blick ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend, Marko said, "Mercedes obviously wants to know what it's all about and is coming to Baku with new updates." Alluding to the manner in which Ferrari have been beaten so far this term, Marko added: "I don't understand that Vasseur sees everything in a positive light."
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