Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has labelled the threat of McLaren as ‘scary’, claiming that the Woking-based team are now their most consistent and biggest challenger ahead of 2024.
McLaren started the campaign with possibly the weakest car on the grid with both Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri failing to extract any considerable performance from the package during the opening two rounds of the season in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
However, they have steadily clawed back lap time through development in 2023 before making a giant leap forward ahead of the summer break. Since the British Grand Prix, McLaren’s two drivers have recorded a combined seven podium finishes.
Discussing their threat in an interview with Kronen Zeitung, Marko said: “We have set our pace on McLaren. That’s worth noting, what’s scary is that it happens on every track. They are our most consistent chasers, still gaining.
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“It can probably be a tough battle for next year,” Marko continued, before claiming that the likes of Ferrari and Mercedes “can’t match the pace of McLaren and us”.
While Norris’ P2 finishes at Silverstone, the Hungaroring and Singapore were warning shots to Red Bull, the team’s back-to-back double podiums at the last two rounds in Japan and Qatar are a true signal of intent.
Even better for McLaren is that, unlike Red Bull with the struggling Sergio Perez, they are able to fight on both fronts. After getting up to speed, Piastri recorded his maiden podium at Suzuka before taking his first F1 win at the sprint race in Qatar last weekend with a P2 finish in the Grand Prix following suit.
Norris believed that he and McLaren could eventually start taking wins off Red Bull too. Speaking to Motorsport Magazine last month he explained: “If we can fix a little bit of this slow-speed [corner issues], if I can get a bit more what I believe the car needs to take that next step.
“A bit of it is what we hopefully will have this weekend, then a bit of it will be what I want from a driving style point of view — that’s when I’m confident we can take the fight to the majority of the teams. Including Red Bull.”
