Marko reveals Red Bull's five-race plan to close the gap to McLaren

Red Bull has identified the key weakness of the RB21 and is planning to introduce upgrades in the coming Formula 1 races to cure the problem, according to the team’s advisor Helmut Marko.

The Milton Keynes-based squad was a distant second to McLaren at last weekend’s season-opening Australian Grand Prix, with reigning four-time champion Max Verstappen unable to take the fight to race winner Lando Norris or the other McLaren of Oscar Piastri.

Piastri’s late spin on slick tyres in the rain allowed Verstappen to snatch second position, just 0.9s behind Norris, but the real gap between the two squads was far bigger.

Marko revealed that tyre degradation is the main area where Red Bull is losing out to McLaren, but he is confident that his squad can eliminate the deficit entirely in the next five races.

"We knew from the test in Bahrain that the McLarens were quite a bit faster than us," Marko told Swedish broadcaster Viaplay.

"We reduced this advantage from half a second to two or three tenths. We can follow them for six to eight laps, but then our tyre degradation comes earlier.

"That's the main problem with some other problems as well. But we know them, and they [the team] are working hard.

“In three to five races hopefully we can cure it, so that we have a car on the same level as the McLaren."

The Australian GP took place in mixed-weather conditions, with the entire field starting on intermediate tyres before switching to slicks at the first round of pitstops.

A second bout of rain late in the race caused havoc and forced all teams to put on a fresh set of inters.

As such, the race offered teams a chance to assess the degradation on both dry and wet-weather compounds, albeit on a street circuit that is vastly different to the majority of the tracks on the calendar.

Red Bull team principal Christian Horner also felt that McLaren’s MCL39 was able to keep Pirelli tyres alive for longer than most cars, giving Norris and Piastri a major advantage at the end of their stints.

“I think it’s different to everybody, yes, and what’s quite strange is that they enjoy great warm-up, but also very low degradation,” he said in Melbourne.

“Usually one comes at the expense of the other. So, they certainly seem to have mastered that at this circuit.

“When you’ve got a car that’s very well balanced, the whole world looks different.

He added: “It’s always an interaction between aero and mechanical.

“You can see the McLaren, they’ve got it in a very sweet spot, particularly for this circuit. Then with that comes very good degradation. The car is very kind on its tyres.”