But there is no peace and quiet at the best racing team, on the contrary. The power struggle, which is not just about team boss Christian Horner, continues. A quick replacement of motorsport consultant Helmut Marko, who is seen as Horner’s internal opponent, is now apparently off the table.
Verstappen and Perez could not be stopped on Saturday, third place went to Ferrari, as in Bahrain – but this time it was taken by Charles Leclerc. Carlos Sainz had to miss out due to an appendix operation, and Oliver Bearman stepped in for him at relatively short notice. The 18-year-old Brit took seventh place. Nico Hülkenberg also scored the first point of the year for the Haas team in tenth place.
“I felt really good in the car,” said Verstappen and gave more insight into the real challenges of the race: “At the very end, with the laps and my slippery tires, that was a bit difficult.” Leclerc spoke of a “slightly boring race because the Red Bulls were so fast. But we got the most out of it.”
Every training session and every qualifying session this season has been overshadowed by the drama at Red Bull, and the topic has reliably made its way into race days too. The same happened on Saturday, but this time it was a kind of de-escalation: Marko, Verstappen’s long-time confidant and supporter, should stay with the world champions. It had sounded different the evening before, the 80-year-old had fueled speculation in interviews himself – whereupon Verstappen made it quite clear that he was linking his own future with the team to Marko’s whereabouts.