Helmut Marko’s McLaren admission amidst timely Sergio Perez resurgence at Spa

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez pictured with Helmut Marko at the Dutch Grand Prix.

McLaren’s pace in the wet during qualifying may have “improved” Sergio Perez’s starting position at Spa, but Helmut Marko says it is “looking better” for the driver than it has in a while.

Perez secured a front-row start position for Sunday’s Belgian Grand Prix with his P2 coming in the nick of time with Red Bull said to be sitting down next week to discuss his F1 future.

Helmut Marko ‘optimistic’ of a podium finish at the Belgian GP

Although Perez cannot reach the rumoured magic 100-point deficit he needs at the end of Sunday’s race to shut down the talks, a good showing at Spa could go a long way towards securing his place on the grid.

He’ll be lining up second behind Charles Leclerc have inherited one place through Verstappen’s 10-place grid penalty while McLaren’s pace in the rain was also a boon for the Mexican driver.

McLaren have been Red Bull’s strongest competitor of late but in the wet could only qualify fifth and sixth with Lando Norris ahead of Oscar Piastri. They’ll start P4 and P5 due to Verstappen’s penalty which dropped him to 11th on the grid.

The Dutchman had been P1 at the end of qualifying, a whopping 0.595s faster than Leclerc.

“This shows that Max is the best, especially in these conditions,” Marko told Servus TV. “But it is also crucial for us that McLaren were not as fast in the rain as they probably will be in the dry.

“That has improved our starting position and it promises to be a very interesting race.

“It is also good to see Checo back on the front row, he has improved enormously. Things are looking better now.”

Key data from qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix

Max Verstappen telemetry data reveals huge gains over McLaren at Spa

Max Verstappen makes McLaren rear wing observation in Spa pace assessment

Marko now wants a podium from Red Bull as the motorsport advisor is confident they have the pace in the RB20 for Verstappen to overtake and Perez to stay in the mix.

“We can set our sights on the podium, but I’m a bit more optimistic now,” he said.

“I think we have a good set-up. We made some changes towards the third practice and they seem to pay off. We had the grip that is necessary in the rain, but I think we still have enough top speed to overtake.

“Max was full of confidence in every session. He was the only driver who kept two new sets of intermediates for Q3. I think that without that approach he would have been the fastest in all the other qualifying parts as well.

“I think this pole was mainly due to Leclerc’s own good performances, but I bet he won’t be able to keep up the pace in the dry. In that respect, if you look at this grid, we couldn’t have wished for more.”

As for Perez, ahead of what is said to be a crunch race for the Mexican driver, he says he’s just focused on getting the better result possible on Sunday.

“From my point of view, it doesn’t change anything,” he told the media including PlanetF1.com. “I’ve always said it’s not where we are now, it’s how you ride the waves and where we finish in Abu Dhabi.

“I mean, there are a lot of drivers that haven’t been able to maximise their performance lately, but obviously, the scrutiny on my side has been quite a bit higher. It doesn’t change anything from my point of view.

“I think [the race] is a new day, a new opportunity. It would have been the same if I was knocked out in Q2. It is a new opportunity to do better.

“The way I see it, the race is what really counts, and if I don’t have a good race, I will try to have a good one in Zandvoort.

“It’s how it is, this is a sport and sometimes it goes your way, sometimes you have to fight and nothing goes in your direction, but I think it’s just the nature of the sport.”

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