Marko: Red Bull-Honda can be champions in 2019

Dr Helmut Marko remains convinced that Red Bull can win the 2019 world championship. Mercedes dominated the season-opening Australian Grand Prix, but it was Max Verstappen, rather than either of the Ferraris, who shared the podium with the Silver Arrows.

Verstappen qualified ahead of Charles Leclerc and then overtook Sebastian Vettel to secure third place in Melbourne – securing a first Honda-powered podium in F1 for more than a decade.

Marko has made no secret of his desire to see Verstappen beat Vettel's record as F1's youngest champion – he can do so this year and next season too.

"I think we will fight for the world championship this year," Marko told La Gazzetta dello Sport.

"We have the best young driver of the moment in Verstappen, and a good car with a powerful and reliable engine.

"They all said I was stupid for signing with Honda, but as usual I ended up being right.

"For example, thanks to the professionalism of the Japanese, we were able to replace Verstappen's chassis in Australia without issue.

"These days we talk with Honda about designing the best possible car, while before we had to wait for the engine and adapt ourselves to them."

Red Bull was clearly behind Mercedes in Australia, but Marko is confident the team will catch up with Honda's help.

"We are hoping for an evolution of the Honda engine soon, and we believe that, throughout the year, we will get to the level of Mercedes and Ferrari," said Marko.

"We have not started with such a strong car for years. [Pierre] Gasly could have finished in front of Vettel if it wasn't for qualifying."

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