Red Bull finally clinched the 2022 constructors’ title for the first time since 2013. The team also secured the drivers’ title with Max Verstappen 2-times in a row but heading into the 2023 season, Red Bull chief fears that Mercedes star Lewis Hamilton will come back stronger.
The Milton-Keynes-based team succeeded in ending the Silver Arrows’ 8-years of dominance in the sport in the 2022 season.
The battle for the title in the 2022 season was fought between Red Bull and Ferrari as the latter had entered the 2022 campaign with a strong package.
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Marko admits Lewis Hamilton is the top man
As the season progressed, reliability issues and strategic blunders saw the Scuderia fail to stay in the championship fight. Meanwhile, Mercedes, who had not started the season with strong results showed some improvement in terms of its performance and results towards the end of the season.
Given how the season turned out to be for their rival, Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko said that it is definitely Mercedes he fears the most heading into the 2023 season.
The Austrian admitted that the Silver Arrows are more stable than the Ferrari and they have Hamilton. Even though his 2022 campaign did not turn out to be in his favour, the Briton’s lap times show that he still is the top man, Marko told AMUS.
🎙️| “Who do you fear more next year?”
Helmut Marko: “Definitely Mercedes. They are more stable. And they have Hamilton. Even though it didn’t go well for him this year, his lap times showed that he is a top man. They are simply a stronger package than Ferrari.”
— Ferrari News 🐎 (@FanaticsFerrari) December 20, 2022
Red Bull chief does not understand the change at Ferrari
Failing to win the championship title yet again, Ferrari’s team principal Mattia Binotto left the Maranello-based squad after the 2022 season. He will be replaced by Fredric Vasseur and several speculations about how the management at the Scuderia will be now have been made by the pundits.
Marko, however, does not understand this change in leadership. In his opinion, Binotto was a great engineer and politician.
The 79-year-old believes that Binotto was simply overwhelmed by the task at Ferrari but providing him with a sports director to support him on the track with the strategy would have been a better option than letting him leave.
Marko thinks that Vasseur, who is a new man in the Italian camp, will have to look after too many new things and could be weakening of Ferrari.
