Red Bull chief Helmut Marko has joked that McLaren were trying to attract new sponsors with their attention-grabbing runs in the first pre-season test in Barcelona. Mercedes newcomer George Russell singled out both McLaren and Ferrari and insisted the two teams are faster than the Silver Arrows.
However, Marko has a more cynical opinion of McLaren and played down their performances in testing this week.
The 78-year-old believes McLaren are using less fuel to push Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo’s times to the top of the leaderboard at the Circuit de Catalunya.
“McLaren is chasing sponsors,” Marko told publication Auto, Motor und Sport.
He is suggesting that McLaren have been using less fuel compared to their rivals during their test programs in an attempt to get faster lap times to appear quicker and thereby attract potential sponsors after Norris finished quickest on the first day and Ricciardo put in a strong showing yesterday.
McLaren’s displays in Barcelona have caught the eye of Mercedes star Russell. “Some teams are looking fast, a red team and an orange team in particular,” he said to reporters after the first day of testing, referring to McLaren and Ferrari.
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“But no, I think a good day in terms of the laps and the program.”
Meanwhile, on the final day of testing, Mercedes and Red Bull appeared to show glimpses of their potential by setting the fastest and second fastest times of the entire testing week.
Lewis Hamilton led a Mercedes 1-2, while world champion Max Verstappen was two-tenths slower than his team-mate to finish P4 in the final classification.
The confidence in Verstappen’s RB18 appears to be high, with the Dutchman proving to be positive about the machinery immediately.
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