Helmut Marko fears one thing ‘has to work’ for Red Bull in Hungarian Grand Prix warning

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Helmut Marko warns Red Bull of the one thing that ‘has to work’ for Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez at the Hungarian Grand Prix to now react to Mercedes and McLaren.

The travelling circus of Formula 1 heads to Budapest in two weeks’ time for round 13 of this season. But after Red Bull dominated the early races, Mercedes have won the past two with George Russell topping the Austrian GP podium and Lewis Hamilton winning the British GP.

McLaren have even seen Lando Norris become a Grand Prix winner this year after his victory at the Miami GP. The Briton also threatened to deny Verstappen and Red Bull further wins at the Emilia Romagna GP and Spanish GP. Charles Leclerc of Ferrari won the Monaco GP, too.

Helmut Marko fears the Hungarian GP ‘doesn’t look good’ if Red Bull’s upgrades fail

Winning five of the first seven Grand Prix in 2024 still sees Verstappen comfortably head the drivers’ standings, though. The three-time reigning champion will travel to the Hungarian GP with 255 points to better Norris’ 171. But his Red Bull teammate Perez is only sixth with 118.

McLaren have also outscored Red Bull across the Austrian GP and British GP thanks to Perez enduring further troubles. The Mexican came home in P17 at Silverstone after bowing out of qualifying in Q1 after spinning into the gravel at Copse before also starting from the pit lane.

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Verstappen at least managed to qualify in P4 at Silverstone and finish the British GP in P2 as his Red Bull thrived on the hard tyres in the closing stages. But Red Bull motorsport advisor Marko fears the team might struggle at the Hungarian GP if those upgrades do not pay off.

“It has to work,” Marko simply expressed to F1-Insider. “Otherwise, it doesn’t look good.”

Red Bull and Max Verstappen suffered heavily with overheating tyres in the British GP

Red Bull are due to unveil an upgraded aerodynamic package at the Hungarian GP that they hope will unlock 1.5 tenths of a second per lap. Had Verstappen had Red Bull’s upgrades for the British GP, he would have been on-par with Norris’ pace for P3 on the grid at Silverstone.

The upgrades will also follow a new floor Red Bull unveiled at the British GP to improve the airflow of the RB20. But issues with overheating the front tyres ensured Verstappen lacked grip in slow-speed corners. He also then suffered during the high-speed corners as a result.

If Red Bull again struggle with overheating their front tyres at the Hungarian GP, despite the upgrades in the pipeline in Milton Keynes, then Marko is right to be fearful of Mercedes and McLaren again. The Hungaroring only has moderately high speed bends at Turns 3, 4 and 11.

Turns 3 and 11 at the Hungaroring are also effectively only kinks in a Formula 1 car. So, Red Bull and Verstappen may share Marko’s fears that the Hungarian GP ‘doesn’t look good’ for them without their upgraded aerodynamic package dialling out their overheating problems.