Marko: We thought overtaking should be easy at Spa, it wasn’t

The reigning Formula 1 Champions and their star driver Max Verstappen suffered from a meltdown over the Hungarian GP weekend, as the Dutchman failed to make any progress from third on the grid while a late-race clash with Lewis Hamilton saw him drop down to fifth.

Marko admitted after Hungary that Red Bull, usually famous for a sharp pitwall operation, misjudged the delta needed to overtake around the Hungaroring, and it seems they have repeated the same mistake at Spa-Francorchamps.

Verstappen started from 11th at Spa, after setting the fastest time in qualifying, after taking an engine penalty, but his progressed stalled once he reached Lando Norris, unable to pass, and crossed the line fifth behind Charles Leclerc with the Briton on his tail. His final position was fourth after George Russell was disqualified for an underweight car.

"A big disappointment. I expected far more," Marko told the media, including GrandPrix247, after the Belgian GP last Sunday.

"A podium," he responded when asked of his expectations. "And we thought after Hungary that overtaking should be more easy here. But it wasn’t. And if you watched the race, there was just one proper overtaking maneuver, that was Piastri against Leclerc. And you saw how much faster Piastri was.

"We couldn’t overtake," the Austrian lamented. "But on the other hand, also Lando, there was no way… He was sometimes 0.3 second behind and he couldn’t overtake. So there is one thing.

"Obviously these ground effect cars are so on the limit that when you are following the whole aerodynamics is disturbed. That also was the case when Max was following in sector two. The front tyres were suffering and he lost balance again,

"Qualifying is the thing which matters," Marko said when asked about his conclusions from Spa, "and that you also need to have the strategy. If you look at Russell, he won with a one stop strategy [speaking before. But even more amazing is in his last lap he did his personal best lap with a tyre which had 30 laps or so.

"I was optimistic that Max could make a podium," he went on. "But we saw, I think the only other way would have been a one stop strategy but the overtaking… And I don’t understand why they shortened DRS zone here without any need, when overtaking is getting so difficult."

Despite Red Bull bringing a major upgrade for Hungary and Belgium, it was not enough for them to regain their advantage, with Verstappen demanding analysis by the team to know what went wrong, as several other teams on the grid also brought upgrades that flopped including Ferrari, Aston Martin, and Mercedes who reverted to an older spec floor at Spa.

Marko commented: "I mean, the example, Racing Bulls [VCARB] or Mercedes, they changed the floor and some other parts. And both the cars are working. And Ferrari also. They went back.

"So we have to see with all the stuff we brought, maybe less, then the whole package could be better. So we have to see where did we turn in the wrong direction?

"First of all to find the setup quicker than we do at the moment and to get the balance in the car so that Max can push without the tyres overheating," Marko concluded, when asked what Red Bull needed to do after the break.