Surprising strength in the Longrun: Red Bull convinces in Baku and believes that the performance of the Formula 1 race in Monza was not an isolated case.
Red Bull sports director Helmut Marko evaluates the result of Friday training for the Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2025 in Baku with sixth place for Max Verstappen and 14th place for Yuki Tsunoda as a positive sign for his team: “The upward trend stops in a position to go at the front,” said Marko in conversation with “Sky”.
According to his assessment, Red Bull is particularly at the top of the Longruns in striking distance, which has so far been held by Ferrari in Baku. On the other hand, the team has “one to one and a half tenth of a second” over a quick round in qualifying, says Marko. His conclusion: “You can still achieve that with a fine -tuning.”
And Red Bull has already increased significantly after it left over a second in the first free training. “Our coordination was too extreme,” admits Marko. “We put too much up. But it is better to find out in the first training session than later. We adapted the car accordingly and then had no problems.”
Marko praises Tsunoda – is that “puzzle” solved?
Even more: In addition to Verstappen, Tsunoda also knew how to convince on Friday in Baku. According to Marko, “the positive” on the red Bull cutout is “that Yuki was almost at the same level in the Longrun as Max”. And with the “same material as Max”, as Marko emphasizes.
Tsunoda itself also looks satisfied: “We mainly focused on the Longruns, and they seem to be much better. I have never seen anything like this in the Longruns this year. It works – and that’s good.”
So far, Tsunoda had always stated that his performance gave the entire Red Bull team “puzzles” because his gap on Verstappen could not have been explained even for insiders. “Now it makes sense,” says Tsunoda.
“It comes step by step, round for rounds, and I build it over the weekend,” said the Japanese racing driver. “It is going in a good direction, so I stay positive and just see what I can make of it on Saturday.”
Is Red Bull a candidate for victory again?
But what does that mean for the Red Bull prospects in qualifying and racing? Marko is initially covered: “The whole thing is distorted because both McLaren touched the wall and did not come into their own in the qualifying simulations. And Ferrari is often very strong on Friday – but then nothing comes.”
For Marko, it is therefore only certain that it becomes “tight” at the top – also because Red Bull has improved a lot through his Monza update. “The car has certainly taken a step forward there. The working window has become wider. This is definitely progress,” explains Marko. “I think we can prove that Monza was not a unique event.”
But is Red Bull another candidate on the Grand Prix victory? “When I look at the Longruns, then yes,” says Marko. “But we still have to improve in qualifying. But the increase from the first to second training was clear.”