Damon Hill left very concerned after hearing Helmut Marko’s comments about McLaren at Monza

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McLaren will start the Italian Grand Prix in the best position possible after locking out the front row of the grid in Saturday’s qualifying session.

Lando Norris will once again start from pole position with Oscar Piastri alongside him and McLaren will be hoping they’ve fixed the issue with their race starts that hampered them at the previous race at Zandvoort.

The development war in Formula 1 has reached another level with designers and engineers grappling with the same ruleset for the third year in a row.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner suggested at the beginning of the year that the grid would converge but wouldn’t have predicted his team would fall behind their rivals.

Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez will start alongside each other on the fourth row of the grid and if they fail to make up any places, Red Bull will lose their place at the top of the Constructors’ Championship.

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Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko was unsurprisingly frustrated with his team’s performance but F1 legend Damon Hill has been left concerned by one of his comments.

Monza is an incredibly fast track and many teams have brought specific wings just for this race to compensate.

However, Marko believes that McLaren and Mercedes need to be investigated due to the parts they’ve brought to the home of Italian motor racing.

Damon Hill concerned by Helmut Marko’s comments about McLaren

Talking to ORF after qualifying, Marko added: “If only we knew the reasons. In Q2 we were in second place, in Q3 both laps were not good.

“What happened there is really a mystery. It can only have been due to the tyre situation, the temperature of the tires, but also the external circumstances.

“We can only hope that the situation does not arise again in the race.”

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Marko also commented on two of Red Bull’s rivals and said: “The front wing of McLaren and Mercedes must be analysed.”

Hill responded to this and added: “Uh oh. Here we go.”

Christian Horner increasingly worried about Red Bull’s problems

Red Bull managed to get both of their cars into the last session of qualifying but were noticeably slower than McLaren, Mercedes and Ferrari on their final runs.

Perez could only get the most out of his car when he was on used soft tyres while Verstappen continued to look uncomfortable in his car.

Horner claims Red Bull are now the fourth-fastest team on the grid although it’s hard to imagine Verstappen won’t make up places in the race.

Even when Perez has started further forward in recent times he’s gone backwards although the likes of Nico Hulkenberg and Alex Albon behind him shouldn’t give him too much trouble.

Eddie Jordan joked that Perez would need rain to win his first race of the season at Monza but the weather forecast looks very clear.

Whether the FIA will take Marko’s comments seriously is another matter, but Red Bull can feel that handle on both championships slipping, the question is whether there are enough races left this season for Norris and McLaren to take advantage.