Marko about Ferrari: "You don't actually catch up that far behind"

Helmut Marko hopes that Sebastian Vettel will finish as high as possible in the World Championship in his final year at Ferrari, but the Red Bull Racing advisor already knows that hoping against his better judgment. The Austrian doesn't think that Ferrari is going to be on top of things in 2020.

"I don't think he'll make the top three in the World Cup," Marko says in conversation with Bild am Sonntag. Charles Leclerc may be fourth in the World Championship with Ferrari for the time being, but it has become painfully clear that the SF1000 is not good enough to compete with Mercedes and Red Bull Racing.

Marko expects no more threat from Ferrari

Not only Ferrari is a lot slower than last year, also customer teams Alfa Romeo Racing and Haas F1 are not burning ahead during the start of the season. The 77-year old man from Graz does have an idea what is causing this. "They are all about eight tenths to a second slower. You can draw a clear conclusion". Of course, Marko's referring to last season's illegal Ferarri engine.

Marko would 'like it if Vettel would finish as high as possible' this year. The Italian superpower has enough resources to improve during the season and narrow the gap, but hooking up won't happen again. "Normally they're strong enough to work their way out, but you don't actually catch up that far behind in a season."

Does Vettel finish season?

There is also a chance that Vettel will decide to say goodbye to Ferrari early. That would mean that he wouldn't even finish the 2020 season. Marko doesn't know if that's a possibility. "Well, I don't know. You'll have to ask him yourself", he concludes.