Marko refutes Ferrari pace advantage

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko has dismissed suggestions that Ferrari has the fastest package in F1.

Ferrari trail Red Bull by 97 points in the constructors' race with Charles Leclerc 80 adrift of championship-leader Max Verstappen.

But this margin fails to tell the story of the season with Ferrari often showing stronger pace than its table-topping rival, only to be let down by reliability or strategy problems.

Leclerc has claimed seven pole positions to Verstappen's four whilst also having been taken out of the lead on four occasions.

Marko, however, does not agree with this assessment that the Scuderia is on top performance-wise and told Motorsport-Total: "I don't see it that way.

"Apart from Barcelona, ​​we were always on par with Ferrari this season.

"Often the day's form decided who was ultimately in front - apart from strategic or technical problems, which we have far fewer. We may only be slightly behind on the individual lap.

"Leclerc has about as many pole positions as we have victories. Pole position doesn't mean much, and since the tracks are where overtaking is possible, that's no longer such a criterion. It will be different in Monte Carlo or Singapore.

"But the crucial thing is that you can keep up the speed in the race without overtaxing the tyres. And I have to disagree: In Le Castellet, Max was faster in the race. If you're ten laps behind within a second, that shows that you're the faster one. We were the faster car there in the race.

"Looked at over the season, it's at eye level. It depends on the form on the day and on the updates. They always have an effect for one or two races. But even those aren't a significant shift in power."

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