F1 | Red Bull, Helmut Marko: “Verstappen and Perez will start on equal terms”

Red Bull did not hire Sergio Perez to be Verstappen's wingman. Helmut Marko, manager of the Austrian team, clarified that the Mexican and Max will start on equal terms, and there will be no number one or number two at the starting line.

“In our team there is no first and second driver. We took Perez because we needed another strong driver who would allow us to diversify our strategies in the race and put Mercedes in difficulty. Albon was often too far behind and it was too easy for Mercedes to keep an eye on Verstappen alone." Marko's words to the Gazzetta dello Sport.

The great consultant from Milton Keynes does not hide his ambitions for 2021, with a Red Bull that would like to annoy Mercedes and compete for that world championship which in reality still seems far away. Marko then spoke of the team's clear desire to continue beyond 2021 with Honda engines, managing them themselves after the official exit of the Japanese manufacturer. Another demanding challenge awaits Red Bull.

“We want to be at the front with Mercedes. I don't know who our most dangerous rivals will be, Aston Martin, McLaren or Ferrari, but as far as we're concerned we're not afraid - thus the Austrian manager who then continued talking about the Honda engine managed by Red Bull -  From 2022 our power unit will be based on the Honda one, if we don't take risks we won't have fun. We are working in that direction, we are waiting for the decisions of the FIA ​​and Liberty Media because freezing the engines would be important. However, we hope that Honda will give us a hand, we are ready to take this risk, perhaps we will try to involve some Japanese technicians to use as much of the original engine engineer's experience as possible."