Marko: Tyre degradation main problem we have to work on

Max Verstappen finished the 2025 Australian Grand Prix second behind Lando Norris, and while the Dutchman drove the wheels off his RB21 trying to chase his McLaren rival, he could not keep up, and in the end, he ran out of laps as he relentlessly chased down the #4 Papaya car.

The reason behind that was the RB21's inability to keep its tyres alive as long as McLaren's MCL39 did, which meant Verstappen could attack early on but then fall back as the tyres degraded.

Reflecting on Red Bull's Australian Grand Prix, Marko told Viaplay: "We can match them [McLaren] for six-eight laps, but then our tyre degradation comes earlier, and that's the main problem we have to work on.

"But through the conditions and changing safety car and so on, Max was there and I think in the last six laps he was the faster guy, but of course there was just one dry line and overtaking was not possible, so what he tried is to push Lando into a mistake.

"Didn't do so, but I think it's a very good result for us and it will be a tough season," the Austrian maintained.

While Verstappen did well to limit the damage as he endured a tough start to his Formula 1 title defense, Liam Lawson suffered a torrid debut weekend with Red Bull.

The Kiwi never came close to his teammate's pace and missed out on FP3 for an issue with his car. He was knocked out of qualifying in Q1 and then ended the race in the wall.

However, Marko supported Lawson; he told Sky Sports: "Now we have to let him cool down a bit and then we’ll discuss what went wrong this weekend. But we have to be patient and wait for three or four races to see his true potential.

"He completely missed the third session and then he just wanted to prove what he could do. Unfortunately it didn’t work out.

"He overdid it a bit. He wanted too much and didn’t have enough time on track to do it properly," Marko concluded.