Marko shares details of emergency Red Bull meeting

Helmut Marko has provided details about the emergency Red Bull meeting that took place after the Chinese Grand Prix.

Red Bull has endured a challenging start to the new campaign with rivals McLaren commencing the campaign in strong fashion.

The Woking-based squad won the opening two grands prix to start the new season with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri taking one victory each.

Reigning champion Max Verstappen secured a podium in Australia before having a less competitive outing in China last weekend.

It prompted Red Bull to set up an emergency meeting after the Shanghai round to discuss how it can recover pace and ensure it is in the title fight this year. Team advisor Helmut Marko labelled the get-together as positive.

“After returning from China, a meeting was held in Milton Keynes where we explored how and when Red Bull would have a winning car again,” Marko wrote in his column for Speedweek. 

“It was a good conversation between Max and the engineers. 

“We were able to show Verstappen the general development direction of the race car and what concrete improvements are being made to the car.”

Marko backs Verstappen to make Red Bull difference

As well as the RB21 not being as fast as McLaren, the car has been tricky to drive with Liam Lawson struggling in the seat alongside Verstappen.

The New Zealander's issues have been so extreme that he has been replaced by Yuki Tsunoda for the upcoming round in Japan.

While it works to iron out its issues relating to the car, Marko has backed Verstappen to make the difference behind the wheel.

“Let's talk about the competitiveness of the Red Bull Racing race car,” the Austrian added.

“After two race weekends, we can say about the characteristics and competitiveness of the RB21: We're behind McLaren; the car is difficult to drive, and the setup isn't exactly straightforward.

“But we saw in the second half of the race in China: If things go well, like Verstappen did at the end of the race, now on hard tyres, he can drive as fast as or even faster than the leader. 

“In fairness though, I have to add that leader Piastri certainly wasn't pushing the pace.”