Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has admitted that the team is relieved Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc is starting down the order in eighth for Formula 1’s Japanese Grand Prix.
Leclerc was puzzled with the lack of pace on his side of the Ferrari garage as he slumped to a fourth-row start, one-tenth behind team-mate Carlos Sainz in fourth place.
Ferrari’s choice to overhaul its car concept to address its race pace concerns from last term has seen it struggle to get the Soft compound up to temperate over one lap.
That trend continued this weekend as McLaren’s Lando Norris pipped Sainz, but the Italian marque’s long runs through practice appeared to be the strongest in the field.
With both Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez unsatisfied with Red Bull’s race simulations, Marko concedes he was concerned about the potential challenge from Leclerc.
But with Suzuka notorious for being a tough circuit to overtake on and turbulence behind another car worse in 2024, Red Bull’s worries for tomorrow have been subsided.
“Our updates worked straight away,” Helmut Marko told Motorsport-Magazin.com. “The set-up worked and we conquered the entire front row.
“We must pay attention to McLaren and Ferrari. Leclerc starts relatively back, thank God, I might add he was the fastest in long runs.
“It will be a challenge between us, the McLarens and the Ferraris.”
Sainz denied that Ferrari was surprised with the near five-tenth deficit to Verstappen, however, and pointed out that Red Bull leaves more in reserve throughout practice.
Regarding the notion that the Maranello-based squad was the fastest team in race trim, Sainz retorted: “They are not better [than Red Bull] it just looks a bit like that.
“They always run really, really slow on Fridays so it looks like we are going to beat them on Sunday and then we are 20 seconds off.
“They are always super quick on Sundays and I think they sandbag a bit on the long runs because they know it is their strength.
“Maybe we are a bit closer but it’s not like we are going to find half a second tomorrow.”
