Red Bull is worried about the late race pace of the RB19 despite a one-two finish

In 2023, Red Bull still dominates the championship. The Austrian team once again proved its dominance during this weekend in Azerbaijan with their 3rd one-two finish in 4 races. Sergio Perez claimed victory ahead of Max Verstappen to complete his win in Saturday’s sprint race, and it was a very successful weekend, especially for the Mexican side of the garage.

This means that the lead Verstappen enjoys in the championship is now only six points. However, despite the good result, Marko has warned the team.

“ A double win, a first and a third place in the sprint, we are very satisfied,” he declared to the ORF.

He also adds that: « Max has not been lucky with the safety car and has not managed to find good settings, which has made him lose a lot of time and prevented him from making the most of the car and following Perez ».

He was therefore unable to make the most of his car and keep up with Perez. « A big congratulations to Checo, he was fast from the start and didn’t make any mistakes, it was a good race for him. »

The rhythm at the end of the race is worrying.

But what was alarming for us was that Leclerc and Alonso were able to clock the same times in the last six or eight laps. We had to work hard to make sure that nothing happened towards the end of the race.

We did not tell the drivers to slow down and manage the car, Sergio asked if it was possible, but we let them drive at full speed.

Meanwhile, Verstappen said he expected the team to reflect on the decision to bring him into the pit at that moment.

“I was able to see the pit stop [of De Vries], but when you see it on the screen, you cannot look into every detail to see if each wheel is properly connected to the car,” Verstappen stated.

Of course, the team has a bit more perspective on this, but we will look into it to see if there is something that we could have done differently.