Helmut Marko fires ‘McLaren copy better’ dig when assessing Red Bull’s rivals

Helmut Marko has fired a shot at McLaren, claiming “some copy better” when explaining Red Bull’s reduced advantage at the front of the F1 field in 2024.

Red Bull have been beaten to victory in two of the last three races.

Lando Norris took the win in Miami and while he did benefit from the timely Safety Car, he was the fastest car out on track.

Similarly, Charles Leclerc was the man to beat last weekend in Monaco.

Both McLaren and Ferrari have been aggressive with their in-season development, introducing significant upgrades in recent races.

On the other hand, Red Bull haven’t done the same having adopted a slightly different car concept at the start of the year.

Marko feels that some of Red Bull’s rivals are catching them simply because “people are copying”.

“We are now in our third year with the current regulations, and people are copying,” Marko said to Austrian publication OE24.

“Some copy better, and you can now see the result at McLaren. Ferrari has also constantly developed further.

“Our two drivers came to Monte Carlo enthusiastic and said that the car was great over the kerbs. But as soon as they were in the car, they said: undriveable!”

Red Bull were also nearly beaten at Imola, with Max Verstappen finishing just 0.7s ahead of Norris.

Even so, McLaren are keen to wait to see how Red Bull fare in Canada and Spain before determining whether they’re on an even keel.

“I think the picture of competitiveness for Red Bull is not entirely clear to me,” Stella told media including Crash.net. “Clearly, Imola and Monaco are two tracks in which riding kerbs and riding bumps is important for performance. To some extent in Miami as well, but not that much.

“So I think, for instance, our progress, I don’t think is just because we are more competitive on these kinds of characteristics. I think that’s more genuine – it’s just we have added good downforce onto the car.

“If anything, our two drivers are not happy with the behaviour on kerbs and bumps, here in Monaco, that’s potentially the main limitation we still face.”