Marko: Ferrari rivalry ‘won’t escalate like Mercedes’

Helmut Marko does not see the Red Bull-Ferrari rivalry providing the fireworks which Red Bull and Mercedes did in 2021.

After two rounds of the 2022 campaign, it would appear that half of the title battle has changed since last season.

Red Bull look very much in the mix again, Max Verstappen having won the second race of the season in Saudi Arabia, but they have a new rival.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc began the season with a victory in Bahrain, both that race and the Saudi Arabia round producing thrilling and tough, but fair battles between Verstappen and Leclerc.

Two races in and it is one apiece between those two.

Of course Verstappen grew very accustomed to these scraps in 2021, only then they were almost exclusively fought with Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton as part of a fractious rivalry between Red Bull and the Silver Arrows.

But Marko, Red Bull’s driver programme boss, prefers this competition with Ferrari when compared to what they had with Mercedes, a battle which can be fought on a “more sporting level”.

“It’s a new rivalry,” he told De Telegraaf.

“Mercedes is at least half a second too slow at the moment, but who knows, they might be able to solve their problems.

“But we don’t sleep either. We work hard to further develop the car.

“I think it’s better to fight with Leclerc and Ferrari than with Mercedes. It is now more on a sporting level. I know we’ve only had two races, but I don’t think it will escalate as much as it did with Mercedes.”

Verstappen and Leclerc, in the space of two races, have already treated us to a pair of fantastic on-track battles, putting the benefits of these new 2022 cars on show when it comes to an ability to follow closer and position for an overtake.

The DRS played an important role in