Marko sees opportunities for Verstappen: "Let's hope things go well"

Helmut Marko is confident Max Verstappen will record a positive result in Sunday's Eifel Grand Prix. The Red Bull Racing team advisor is satisfied with qualifying and sees that the RB16 is closing the gap to the Mercedes. Moreover, a third place for Verstappen is perhaps even better than the second place, according to Marko.

"We have some new parts. But we missed the Friday sessions for fine-tuning," Helmut Marko explains in conversation with Sky's German branch. The Austrian expects possible problems with the red compound. "In practice there were big difficulties with the soft tyre. But slowly we are sorting out, getting closer, and I think tomorrow's race will be much tighter."

Verstappen has to fight Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas from third place. Marko doesn't mind. "I think P3 is almost better than P2. If we look: It is a relatively long straight with a very tight corner. We also have the Leclerc in there. Let's hope it goes well," said the 77-year-old.

Verstappen, Hamilton and Bottas all start on the softs and beating two Mercedes cars does not seem feasible on the basis of strategy alone. A good start therefore seems to be very important for the Dutch nine-time Grand Prix winner.