Red Bull suffer 'sobering' experience after McLaren mauling

Helmut Marko claims Red Bull and Max Verstappen endured a "sobering" experience in the wake of being mauled by McLaren over the Spanish Grand Prix weekend.

In the build-up to the event at Barcelona's Circuit de Catalunya, Red Bull team principal Christian Horner had expressed hope that a new technical regulation clamping down on the flexibility of front wings would curb McLaren's dominance.

Red Bull, amongst others, made claims against McLaren last season, leading to the FIA opting to change its rules by issuing technical directives concerning the front and rear wings.

Rather than keeping McLaren in check, the Woking-based team extended its advantage as it was quickest in every practice session as well as locking out the front row of the grid, and finishing one-two at the chequered flag, spearheaded by Oscar Piastri.

"The whole weekend was sobering for us," said advisor Marko, speaking to Servus TV's SportTalk programme. "We had hoped that the new regulations would change things.

"But basically, the car is just too slow. We were three tenths behind, and it was the same at the beginning of the year. Maybe it means that McLaren has also continued to develop in the meantime - but better.

"We thought we would be neck-and-neck now. The whole weekend was sobering for Max, and sobering for all of us, because again we saw that McLaren is far superior."

Canada hope

It had been expected that the nature of the Spanish track would play to the strengths of the RB21 but that proved to be far from the case as Verstappen finished three-tenths of a second behind Piastri in qualifying.

Additionally, the hot weather worked in McLaren's favour, with its car kinder on its tyres in such conditions. At the start of the race, air temperature was 29.5 degrees centigrade, and track temperature was 49.5.

Red Bull was forced into a three-stop strategy, whilst Norris and Piastri only required two before a late safety car shook up matters, leading to Verstappen's explosive end to the race.

Cooler climes are expected for the next race in Canada, which may aid Red Bull's cause.

"I hope that our car will again be competitive," said Marko. "And I hope for cooler temperatures, which may well be the case in Canada.

"What was true before is no longer true now. Warm temperatures used to be optimal for us, but now it's too heavy for the tyres.

"I don't know what McLaren does, but they can use these tyres longer than we can in terms of temperature and performance.

"Unfortunately, Canada has few, if any, fast corners. But maybe we can tune the car to fall into the right working window."

Referring to what unfolded with Verstappen in Spain, Marko concluded: "Mostly I hope for a solid race without conflicts."