“One more lap, and Sergio Perez would have passed Charles Leclerc too”- Red Bull chief explains why things went downhill for Ferrari at the F1 Sprint in Imola

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko feels that Ferrari suffered the same problems in Charles Leclerc’s car they encountered in Australia. 

Leclerc’s F1 Sprint got off to a very strong start, as he jumped Max Verstappen on the very first lap. He also put some daylight between him and the Red Bull driver, with the gap of more than two seconds at one stage.

However, towards the end, we saw Verstappen make a late but effective push. It ended in the Dutchman overtaking Leclerc’s F1-75 to take home eight points, and the first Sprint win of the year.

Things you love to see 😍 #F1pic.twitter.com/KzPrlfG8j6

— Oracle Red Bull Racing (@redbullracing) April 23, 2022

After the race, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko spoke to the media, and explained why they had such an advantage towards the end. The 78-year old previously admitted that they suffered tyre graining issues in the last round in Melbourne. Marko feels that Ferrari encountered the very same problems, which led to a drop off in pace.

“The graining problems that we had in Australia hit Ferrari here,” he said to Servus TV. “One more lap and then Perez would have passed too.”

Also read: Charles Leclerc reveals what mistake he made in F1 Sprint duel with Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen felt that the Ferrari was faster than his Red Bull on Saturday

Verstappen did hold on to P1 in the Sprint, but he’s wary of the Ferrari’s strong pace. He feels that the only reason he managed to get past Leclerc was because the Monegasque lost out on his tyres.

“We had to stay calm and it initially looked like Charles was actually having a bit more pace,” the Dutchman said. “But then I think he ran out of tyres and we could close the gap and then go for the move into turn two.”

P1 in the sprint and some good points for the team 👍 We’re well underway but have to finish it all tomorrow 👊 pic.twitter.com/o07cFBIOKW

— Max Verstappen (@Max33Verstappen) April 23, 2022

“I know maybe tomorrow it might be again a bit different but for sure today it worked out for us to be on this compound. So I’m very happy to have a clean sprint race at the end.”

Verstappen managed to gain eight points that helped him move past Lewis Hamilton into fifth in the Championship. It has been a difficult start for the defending World Champion, mainly because of the Red Bull’s reliability woes.

He will be looking forward to closing the gap to runaway leader Charles Leclerc on Sunday.

Also read: Max Verstappen offends his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase at the Imola Sprint race