The former Red Bull man analyzed the Australian GP like this
From the 45 overtakes of the 2025 edition to the 120 recorded yesterday: F1 2026 started with a ‘bang’ in terms of overtaking, but quantity rarely makes quality and the Australian GP falls fully into this category, although it cannot be denied that it was fun to see continuous exchanges of positions between Leclerc and Russell.
The number of times the two overtook each other and the ease with which the opponent’s response arrived promptly after each attack, however, highlights how in reality they were not real overtakes, but simply a different use of the available energy.
Helmut Marko, of whom everything can be said, but certainly not that he lacks the experience and skills to analyze an F1 GP, commented on the Melbourne race as follows: “The first two laps were exciting, it’s true, but in reality it’s as if nothing happened in the end – Marko’s words reported by gpblog.com – if two drivers have the same speed and don’t make mistakes nothing happens, as happened for example when Verstappen caught Norris or when Hamilton approached Leclerc and Russell. I think the only real battle was the one between Oliver Bearman and Arvid Lindblad, but it was a duel nonetheless conditioned by the state of the tires.”
Marko, however, is not critical regardless of the current rules, even if from his point of view the role of the driver is diminished: “I think we need to give this F1 2026 a bit more time, things will improve – Marko added – what I don’t like is that the focus is shifting more and more to the engineers, the drivers matter less. In this weekend the Mercedes was quite a bit faster than anyone else, I think it’s more about knowing the engines, even if the tire wear of the McLarens, and also the Red Bulls, was not at the level of the Mercedes, so Mercedes is ahead from the engine and chassis point of view.”
Read more Marko: “Ferrari creates chaos at the start, but it’s McLaren who can put Mercedes in difficulty”
