Marko tells Red Bull when to sound 'alarm bells'

Helmut Marko has told Red Bull when it will "really have a problem" following its struggles in the Monaco Grand Prix.

Red Bull has been the dominant force in F1 since the start of 2022, and had won 27 of the 30 races leading into the Monte Carlo weekend where the RB20 suffered an off-weekend. 

Unable to ride bumps and camber changes of Monaco, Max Verstappen could only qualify - and finish - sixth whilst Sergio Perez was only 18th in qualifying before crashing out on the first lap. 

The team is confident that Monaco was only a blip, with motorsport advisor Marko revealing when he would be concerned about the performance of the car after the renewed threat from McLaren and Ferrari.

"Our car has a concept where we have focused on aerodynamic efficiency and we can't lift it off the ground to better tackle the kerbs unless we lose a lot of downforce," Marko told F1 Insider.

"I think we still have an advantage on traditional circuits, and if we are not in front in Barcelona, then we really will have a problem. 

"On circuits where we won't be the most competitive, we can count on the Verstappen factor, he's in top form and he makes the difference."

Horner' view

The Red Bull is run particularly low to the ground to maximise the downforce generated, but this makes it particularly suspect to bumps and kerbs, as found on street tracks with Singapore 2023 and Monaco 2024 being its worst-performances since the start of 2023.

Verstappen described how we was jumping like a "kangaroo" on Friday in Monaco, with boss Christian Horne sure that the team will be "anything for granted" when the calendar returns to Europe for the Spanish GP, after the hop to Canada.

"It's not like it has gone from being a good car to a bad car, it is just that this circuit hasn't played to our strengths," Horner explained after Monaco.

"We need to understand what the weaknesses are and how do we address them."