Helmut Marko shares issue Max Verstappen was ‘suddenly’ facing during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

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The Azerbaijan Grand Prix was another disastrous race for the Red Bull Racing team after losing the lead in the Constructors’ Championship.

Team principal Christian Horner would have known that Red Bull’s eight-point lead over McLaren was under serious threat going into Sunday’s race.

Oscar Piastri was starting on the front row of the grid while Lando Norris was always going to make his way back into the top ten despite his poor qualifying performance.

Piastri earned a fantastic victory after getting the better of Charles Leclerc and fending off the Monegasque driver for the rest of the race.

However, Red Bull may not have anticipated Norris managing to finish ahead of Max Verstappen on pure pace after a mammoth first stint.

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Sergio Perez looked primed to finally finish on the podium again after a superb performance where he was in touch with the leaders throughout the race.

Unfortunately, the Mexican driver came away empty-handed after a collision with Carlos Sainz ended both of their races.

Speaking to ServusTV after the race, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko shared his thoughts on the race.

Marko gave his verdict on the race-ending crash for Perez but also highlighted a problem that Verstappen was ‘suddenly’ facing throughout the race.

Both Red Bull drivers had slightly different set-ups and the Dutchman’s was nowhere near as effective as his teammate’s.

Helmut Marko shares problem Max Verstappen was ‘suddenly’ facing during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix

Talking about the race, Marko said: “In general, our speed was too slow with Max. With Checo, it was fine.

“Max had very fast laps in between, but couldn’t drive them continuously.

‘The reason for this is the set-up Because if you overdo it with the RB20 then you suddenly lose performance, and that was the case today.

“The tyre wear was also significantly higher than with Checo. He also had braking problems.

“So everything came together. But let’s put it this way: we’re heading in the right direction.

“But before Austin, I’m afraid we won’t be able to make a step forward. So we still have to get through Singapore.

Marko was then asked about the collision between Sainz and Perez and said: “Perez was on his way to overtake Leclerc and slipped a little into the lane.

“Then Sainz overtook him, he overtook him back and then, as I saw it, Sainz drove into Checo’s car completely unmotivated.”

Verstappen faced ‘crazy’ issue during Azerbaijan Grand Prix weekend

Things haven’t been going well for Verstappen for some time and he’s now gone seven races without a win.

Norris made a small dent in his lead in the Drivers’ Championship but the McLaren driver may need a DNF for his rival to stand a real chance of winning his first title.

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What will give McLaren confidence is the fact that Red Bull don’t expect to have their issues solved for the next race in Singapore.

Verstappen complained about ‘crazy’ issues earlier in the weekend and the consistency associated with the team has disappeared.

Perez has been complaining about these problems for some time and Marko has already admitted that he doesn’t expect a fix to arrive until at least Austin.