Max Verstappen has a solid lead in the drivers' standings and Red Bull is on a six-game winning streak over its Ferrari rivals, but the team knows it's all on a fine line.
Max Verstappen has a solid lead in the drivers' standings and Red Bull is on a six-game winning streak over its Ferrari rivals, but the team knows that all of this is on a fine line.
The reigning world champion has been warned by Helmut Marko that reliability could still hurt his chances of a successful title defense this season.
Verstappen is in brilliant form this season as he looks to build on his second Formula One title. He has won six of nine races so far, including five of the last six, with Red Bull stamping their authority in both championships.
It was Ferrari who got off to the best start early in the season, with Charles Leclerc winning two of the first three races. But Verstappen overcame the reliability problems he suffered with his car in those races to open up a 46-point gap at the top of the drivers' standings.
However, Helmut Marko knows that mechanical problems can still occur at any time to disrupt a driver's season. The gearbox problem suffered by Sergio Perez at the Canadian GP was a reminder to his teammate that his position at the top of the standings is far from comfortable.
"The main thing is that you have to finish and avoid these reliability problems," the Austrian told , referring to the abandonments suffered by Verstappen in Bahrain and Australia due to fuel line problems in his RB18. "We also had a sprint race, which helped us a lot to get more points."
"We're having an unbelievable year so far, normally in the first half of the season we were always catching up and now we're dominating. You have to say that if you win seven races out of the first nine, that's domination."
"But reliability is always a concern if you have a car that is on the limit. You see that at Ferrari. The only ones who don't have a technical dropout yet is Mercedes, but they've had to put their foot up for a few races because of overheating problems."
"You mustn't forget that these are completely new and heavier cars. You've had almost no testing time and you immediately go to the limit. That's where the problems start. We're doing relatively well, but on second thought, we're not doing well at all! Four abandonments so far is too many, but we are working on it."