Red Bull says 2020 F1 car two weeks ahead of schedule
Helmut Marko says Red Bull is two weeks ahead of schedule on its 2020 Formula 1 car and has no excuses as it prepares for a title challenge.
Red Bull scored three victories with Max Verstappen in 2019, after recovering from a slow start in its first year with Honda power.
Honda has progressed sufficiently to allow Red Bull to challenge Mercedes and Ferrari in race trim over the course of 2019 and has narrowed its performance deficit in qualifying too.
Speaking to Red Bull-owned ServusTV this week, Red Bull's motorsport advisor Marko said: "We don't have any excuses for next year. For the first time we are 14 days ahead of our normal schedule.
"We're going into the new year better than ever and with a great concept. Now we finally have to deliver."
Early this season Red Bull was held back on the chassis side as well as Honda's engine being underpowered compared to its rivals.
However, an aggressive development schedule from Honda and Red Bull's own aerodynamic improvements launched the partnership into victory contention at most races from the Austrian Grand Prix.
Verstappen said at the end-of-season FIA prize-giving that a stronger start was key to Red Bull's season.
Marko, who said Honda and Verstappen were both in "top" condition, also admitted Red Bull needed to avoid a repeat of its 2019 issues.
"Normally we are at least in Spain so far that we are competitive," he said. "This year it took longer."
Red Bull won fewer races in 2019 than it did with Renault the previous year, having split from the French manufacturer after a slow, acrimonious dissolution of the title-winning partnership.
Marko had started the year targeting five victories, one more than Red Bull scored with Renault in 2018, but circumstances such as Mercedes' unexpectedly strong form in Monaco and Hungary, Ferrari's surprise win in Singapore and first-lap contact in Mexico denied Verstappen a bigger haul.
"The fact that we only won three cost me a few be ts," said Marko. "We had the potential for five, if not six wins."
Verstappen, who joined Marko on Servus's Sport & Talk programme on Monday night, said that "of course I want to win more races in a season".
"We hope to be able to compete for the world championship straight from the beginning of the season," he said.
The 22-year-old is about to enter the final year of his current contract with Red Bull and has been linked with a move away if it cannot challenge for the world championship.
"I am really positive," said Verstappen. "I feel well within Red Bull, and everything goes really well and that is the most important in the end.
"We all want to win together. I am relaxed and feel well within the team. I want to win with Red Bull."
Additional reporting by Maria Reyer
Honda wanted to start 2019 F1 season with Spec 2 engine
The hidden milestone behind Hamilton’s grand slam finale
Why the lack of "needle" between Red Bull and Ferrari is a mirage
OPINION: The fight for the 2022 Formula 1 world titles between Red Bull and Ferrari so far features little of the public animosity that developed between the former and Mercedes last year. But that isn’t to say things are full on friendly or won’t get much worse very quickly…
The underdog F1 squad that thrust Senna into the limelight
The Toleman TG184 was the car that could, according to legend, have given Ayrton Senna his first F1 win but for Alain Prost and Jacky Ickx at Monaco in 1984. That could be stretching the boundaries of the truth a little, but as STUART CODLING explains, the team's greatest legacy was in giving the Brazilian prodigy passed over by bigger outfits an opportunity
Why Aston Martin is unlikely to repeat Jaguar’s F1 mistakes
Two famous manufacturer teams born out of humble midfield origins, splashing the cash while attempting to rise to the top of F1 in record time. There are clear parallels between Lawrence Stroll’s Aston Martin and the doomed Jaguar Racing project of 22 years ago, but Mark Gallagher believes struggling Aston can avoid a similar fate.
How rejuvenated Haas recovered its F1 mojo
US-owned but until recently Russian-backed, Haas seems to have reached a turning point in car performance after three gruesome seasons. And it needs to if it’s to attract fresh investment. Team boss Gunther Steiner tells Oleg Karpov how close Haas came to the abyss.
How F1 race leaders have now lost their comfort blanket
As Formula 1 teams have settled down in understanding the new generation of cars and the way they need to maximise their performance, fresh lessons have emerged. Jonathan Noble investigates how they have brought with them an all-new kind of grand prix racing
Gilles Villeneuve's 10 greatest F1 drives
Formula 1 lost one of its brightest stars when Gilles Villeneuve was killed during practice for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. Forty years on, Motorsport.com picks out the greatest drives by a Ferrari legend
The silver lining of Ferrari’s Miami GP defeat
OPINION: Much was made of Formula 1’s first Miami Grand Prix – what turned out to be a very ‘marmite’ event for both those in attendance and everyone following on TV. But even as the on-track battle between Red Bull and Ferrari it produced continued the negative run of results for the red team, it contained a glimmer it must hope continues to shine
How imperfect Miami offered F1's drivers a unique challenge
OPINION: Despite all of the stylistic embellishments festooning Formula 1's inaugural Miami Grand Prix, the Miami International Autodrome offered the drivers a unique challenge and punished driver errors; a stark contrast to the usual cast of modern-day circuits