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

McLaren app🅠ear to be the team to beat head🍷ing into next weekend’s F1 Australian Grand Prix.

168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Lando Norris’ race ru꧅n on day two in Bahrain caught♑ the attention of the paddock.

Norris was nearly 0.6s faster than 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Charles Leclerc and 168澳洲5最新开奖结果:Andrea Kimi Antonelli during the race simulations.

Oscar Piastri backed up Norris’ pace by out-pacing168澳洲5最新开奖结果: George Russell by around 0.3s on day three on heavy fuel.

Max Verstappen’s final day did🌠n’t provide a clear p🥀icture, although Marko thinks the deficit to McLaren is at least 0.2s.

Speaking to , Marko noted that McLaren’s superior tyre wear contributed to the gap between the two t✤eams.

“It’s hard to say exactly what that looks like, because the weather conditions were completely out of ඣthe 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, t🐼he 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 al🔥so much better than our data indicated.”

Marko spots Red Bull advantage

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

Norris was gen🦂erally the faster driver throughout 2024, but Piastri wasn’t afraid to challenge his teammate on track w🍌hen 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 cha🦄rge.

“If you take the test in Bahrain, then it was Lando Norris who𝓀 coped much better than Oscar Piastri,” Mar🌠ko 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 iജt.

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

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