Red Bull, Ferrari set for their decisions post Belgian GP

Red Bull, Ferrari set for separate meets regarding their future steps on different topics, as Helmut Marko reveals of Max Verstappen’s ESports curb.

Starting with Red Bull, the F1 team is set for a crunch meet post the Belgian GP at Spa-Francorchamps to discuss about its future course of action regarding Sergio Perez. Even though the Mexican has a contract, there will still be deliberation on him.

Marko told TV media about the same despite Perez’s recovery drive in Hungary. “Perez drove a very good race [in Hungary], the strategy worked well and we are sticking to our approach, on Monday after Spa I will fly to England and discuss the procedure with Horner,” the Austrian said.

He further added about Perez’s outing in his column in Speedweek where he highlighted about the Mexican’s need in the constructors’ fight. “I would say, [he’s] unpredictable – very good on Friday [in Hungary], only just behind Verstappen and with the best endurance runs of all the drivers, then unfortunately a stupid mistake in qualifying, which resulted in 16th place on the grid, followed by a very strong race up to 7th place,” wrote Marko.

“He continues to have this up and down, nobody knows when he will shine or when he will make a mistake, he simply lacks consistently good performance. Max’s lead in the drivers’ championship is still 76 points. In the constructors’ championship, McLaren has moved up to 51 points. Verstappen’s lead basically means three race wins, which is enough, if not reassuring.

“We have to deliver consistent performance and be able to win on our own again. Defending the drivers’ title will certainly be less difficult than defending the constructors’ cup. McLaren is still scoring points with both drivers up front, and our main problem is that we have scored far too few points with Checo Perez in the last few races.”

Staying on with Red Bull and Marko, the Austrian also revealed Verstappen’s status of undertaking ESports races during F1 weekend. The Dutchman slept late ahead of Sunday’s race, which was picked upon by the media, if he should be dove-tailing in this manner.

It seems like Verstappen has been pushed down from competitive races during F1 weekends, even if he may continue friendly outings to relax. “Max Verstappen was rather thin-skinned this weekend, and of course it didn’t take long for criticism to arise – no wonder, since he spends half the night playing sim racing,” wrote Marko.

“I have to say that in Imola he didn’t go to bed until three in the morning after a sim racing session – and then won the Grand Prix. Max has a different sleep pattern, and he had his seven hours of sleep. His late-night sim appearance on the Hungary weekend only came about because a driver in his team had dropped out. Nevertheless, we agreed that he would no longer run simulations so late in the future.”

Over at Ferrari, team boss Frederic Vasseur revealed about their decision that is to come post the summer break. The Frenchman was asked about the departure of Enrico Cardile to Aston Martin and if the team has a revised structure in place to accommodate his loss.

Additionally, Vasseur stressed that Ferrari is not out of the game and that the results in Hungary was good for the Italian outfit even though they were behind Red Bull, Mercedes and McLaren. “I can announce that after the summer break we will announce the new organization,” he said to TV media.

“For us it is not a drama. Regarding our results, we are already back in a position to go to the podium [in Hungary]. We struggled with Red Bull and Mercedes. More difficult to be behind McLaren but it’s a matter of tenths of a second. We hope to have tracks that are better suited to our car.

“Things will change from track to track. Mercedes was on pole last race and won, while here, performance-wise, they were the fourth force. I think things will go on this way until the end. It’s important to score a lot of points when you’re not at the top, and we did a good job of that,” summed up Vasseur.

Here’s Ferrari trio on Hungarian GP

Here’s Max Verstappen, Christian Horner on Hungarian GP