Helmut Marko, Red Bull F1’s motorsports adviser, said he wasn’t overly impressed with the “zero pods” that Mercedes F1 adopted for W13, which looks exciting but doesn’t create lap times.
The Mercedes F1 debuted an extreme side pod design at the start of the official F1 preseason test in Bahrain. There are few side pods on the Mercedes W13.
Rumor has it that Zeropad created a value of 1 second per lap in the Mercedes F1 wind tunnel data. However, the three-day test showed no signs of this.
“We looked more closely at the performance, but it wasn’t very impressive,” Helmut Marko said in an interview with OE24 about the design of the Mercedes F1 Zero Pod.
“What Mercedes has brought seems revolutionary, but what matters is time.”
And of particular importance to Helmut Marko was the Red Bull Racing time, which was number one.
“The main thing is that we are the fastest again, but I remember last year when Mercedes was behind in the test,” Helmut Marko said.
“But we’re mainly interested in our car, and it’s going well.”
Helmut Marko believes that Red Bull is addressing the problem of RB18’s porpoising phenomenon. This is a problem that all teams experienced during the test.
“We control that too,” Helmut Marko said with confidence about straight bouncing.
“As I said, we are completely happy with the new car and all the updates.”
“Now we are waiting for Saturday’s qualifying. The engine speed will increase and all the cards will be put on the table.”
Last season, Max Verstappen defeated Lewis Hamilton to win the F1 World Champion.This year, Red Bull Racing is trying to stay number one
Helmut Marko says it is Max Verstappen’s only target this year.
“You can count on it,” Helmut Marko said.
“In last year’s title, he achieved his life goal, but as everyone could hear on the radio at the finale, he wants to feel this feeling in the next few years.”
“And you can believe me. Max will be even faster, he’s at the height of the racing era.”
Category: Category: F1 / Red bull / Mercedes
