Marko: We took one step forward but Mercedes took two

On Sunday, the Silver Arrows racked up their fifth one-two in as many races this season. They were in another league all weekend, at least a second faster than their rivals in race and quali guise no matter what the stats say.

Next best turned out to be Max Verstappen who had no answer for the pacesetters but was the proverbial "stone in the shoe" for Ferrari as he split Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc in qualifying and then a day later went one better than of both of them in the race to score a notable podium for Honda power.

Speaking to Salzburger Nachrichten, Marko summed up the weekend for his team, "We are heading in the right direction, now we have to keep fighting. We are happy to have taken the first step, now we are ahead of Ferrari. Everything went well for Max, he delivered the maximum."

While Red Bull may have ticked Ferrari off their to-do-list, Mercedes are another matter altogether as the World Champions found half a second between Baku and Barcelona with their package. They topped the pecking order after qualifying in Azerbaijan by three-tenths of a second. Two weeks later, in Spain, that gap was eight-tenths of a second.

During the race after 20 laps, eventual winner Lewis Hamilton had a 12 second lead over Verstappen, 15 seconds on Leclerc and over 20 seconds gap to Vettel. Thereafter the gap stabilised, but that early spell revealed the firepower in the silver cars when it needed to be unleashed.

Notably, after the safety car spell (caused by the collision between Lando Norris and Lance Stroll) there were still 15 laps to go, with drivers able to bolt on fresh rubber, the Ferrari duo and Verstappen opted for the mediums. At that stage of the race, neither Ferrari were quicker than the Red Bull who had a slight edge.

While Verstappen was happy to be on the podium, he made it quite clear who held all the aces, "Mercedes is faster than us in all respects."

Marko agreed, "We took a step forward, but Mercedes appear to have made two."

The Austrian doctor scoffed at comparisons to the era in which Red Bull dominated the top flight, "We were never nearly so dominant. There were also two or three changes in the regulations each year that served to hold us back, but nobody seems interested in doing that at the moment."

Reading between the lines, the Red Bull chief is unrealistically implying that the powers that be should devise a way to reel in the massive advantage that the German team has at the moment.

However, if that means somehow restricting their mighty PU, how would that affect Williams and Racing Point who as clients supposedly use the exact same package? Ironically both Mercedes-powered teams bottom of the pecking order after the weekend in Spain.

Marko added, "We know where we lose time, we are not losing overall, but rather in specific slower corners, but it is significant. It's alarming how fast were through the slower corners and we know that Monaco is all about slow corners."

He was, of course, referencing the next round in Monte-Carlo where last year Daniel Ricciardo won the sport's most glamorous race where, traditionally, Red Bull have been strong and will be quietly hoping that the legendary street circuit will play in their favour again.

https://www.grandprix247.com/2019/05/14/pecking-order-mercedes-way-ahead-red-bull-catch-ferrari/