Helmut Marko suggests McLaren held 0.3s advantage over Red Bull in F1 testing

Helmut Marko believes McLaren had a two to three-tenth advantage over Red Bull during F1 pre-season testing at the Bahrain International Circuit.

McLaren appear to be the team to beat heading into next weekend’s F1 Australian Grand Prix.

Lando Norris’ race run on day two in Bahrain caught the attention of the paddock.

Norris was nearly 0.6s faster than Charles Leclerc and Andrea Kimi Antonelli during the race simulations.

Oscar Piastri backed up Norris’ pace by out-pacing George Russell by around 0.3s on day three on heavy fuel.

Max Verstappen’s final day didn’t provide a clear picture, although Marko thinks the deficit to McLaren is at least 0.2s.

Speaking to Sport.de, Marko noted that McLaren’s superior tyre wear contributed to the gap between the two teams.

“It’s hard to say exactly what that looks like, because the weather conditions were completely out of the norm. It was cold, it was a strong wind. It even rained,” Marko said.

“It was only the case on Wednesday, when we were on an equal footing with McLaren. But on Friday, the last day, I would say that our gap in the long run is currently two to three tenths.

“In addition, the tyre wear at McLaren was also much better than our data indicated.”

Marko spots Red Bull advantage

While McLaren seem to have the superior car, Marko is hopeful that Verstappen can capitalise on McLaren’s driver pairing dynamic. 

Norris was generally the faster driver throughout 2024, but Piastri wasn’t afraid to challenge his teammate on track when given the opportunity to do so.

Given the strength of McLaren’s driver pairing and the possibility of taking points off each other, Marko thinks that could benefit Verstappen’s title charge.

“If you take the test in Bahrain, then it was Lando Norris who coped much better than Oscar Piastri,” Marko added.

“But I think that was just a phenomenon in Bahrain. I rate Piastri as equally strong and I hope that this will also take away the two points and we will benefit from it.

“Max is clearly number one for us, and I don’t think Piastri will voluntarily declare himself number two. And we saw that last season: on certain tracks he was equal to, if not faster than, Lando.

“But the advantage is that McLaren currently has a car again that – if you take Bahrain as an example – copes very well with every type of tyre and every temperature.”