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Red Bull put together a rather perfect weekend in Imola to storm its way back into championship contention. The team had brought a set of upgrades to the track that ultimately helped Red Bull and Max Verstappen to win the Imola GP.
After the race, Helmut Marko, talking to sky sports said that he felt Ferrari could not keep up with the team's rate of evolution. When asked if Ferrari can catch Red Bull with its own set of upgrades, Marko said,
"I don't think so. What we also saw is that we put real pressure on them and they're making mistakes. You could see that Leclerc span on Friday, twice. [Carlos] Sainz spun [in the race], then Leclerc again."
The team advisor had an interesting take on the rivalry between Ferrari and Red Bull this season.
"It's quite a cute and, I would say, very sportive and friendly competition between Ferrari and us. The championship will be very exciting and hopefully it doesn't go to the last race like last year."
Red Bull: It was very important to bounce back
Marko admitted that after two DNFs in the first three races, the team was desperate for a fightback. Imola was the first 1-2 for the team since Malaysia 2016 and it came at probably the best possible time for the team.
"It was very important after our problems in Bahrain and Australia, from the engine side. Another 1-2 - the last one was 2016 in Malaysia - so it was about time. For the morale and everything, it's more than important."
"It shows that we are competitive. We just have to get the package together and then we are there. I mean, twice [Verstappen lost] 18 points. He would be easily ahead [otherwise], but there are so many races coming and the important thing is that we know we have such a strong package."
Coming into the weekend with a deficit of 46 points to Leclerc, Max Verstappen put together a perfect weekend where he scored pole position on Friday, won the sprint race on Saturday, and then dominate the race on Sunday.
Verstappen scored a total of 34 points over the weekend and has now reduced the deficit to Leclerc to 29 points now.
