Red Bull adviser Dr Helmut Marko has confirmed that his team are planning to bring more upgrades to their 2022 car as they look to seal the championship.
Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez, between them, have won eight of the opening 12 rounds of the season, and have established a dominant advantage over Ferrari as a result.
The pair have successfully overturned five of Ferrari’s pole positions this season, with the reverse happening only on one occasion when Charles Leclerc took victory in Austria.
A great deal of the Austrian side’s success has stemmed from errors made by Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, as well as reliability failures and strategic errors.
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Because of their four reliability problems this season, both Ferrari drivers have found themselves starting at the back this year; Leclerc started 19th in Canada as he was denied a chance of victory, before the same happened to Sainz last weekend in France.
The Spaniard recovered to fifth on Sunday, but the Italian side’s difficult weekend was compounded when Leclerc crashed out of the lead, handing the win to Verstappen.
However, Red Bull have not been shy of a retirement or two of their own this year due to mechanical issues, so Dr Marko predicts that his side will also have to endure that pain at some stage.
“That will come for us as well and we just have to choose a track where you can overtake relatively well,” he told Motorsport-Total.com.
The Milton Keynes-based side will endeavour to take their penalties at a track like Monza, where it is easier to overtake.
“If you look at the next races, you will certainly come to a track that we have chosen,” added Dr Marko.
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Red Bull won six races on the bounce after introducing an upgrade at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix earlier this season, and they have a few more developments up their sleeve for the rest of the year, but it will not be anything outrageous.
“We are constantly developing; that is the DNA of Red Bull Racing.
“They won’t be as serious, but there will be updates well into the second half of the season, we have to wait and see what they look like.”
As for the title, Dr Marko knows only too well that the deal is far from sealed at this juncture.
“It’s not enough yet, you have to be fast and reliable,” he stated.
“I think you have to win 10 to 12 races in total to have a realistic chance in the championship.”
Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto recently affirmed that it is entirely possible that his team can win all of the final 10 races of the 2022 season.