Marko thinks Hamilton is hypocritical: "It seems he has a bad memory"

At the onset of the Grand Prix weekend in Austria, a remarkable interview featuring Lewis Hamilton was released, in which the seven-time world champion advocated for a rule change to prevent Red Bull Racing from starting the development of their new car too early. The Mercedes driver, who has in the past dominated the sport with Mercedes for several years, believes that Ferrari and Red Bull have in the past sidelined the competition by starting work on the new car earlier than their rivals.

Hamilton believed this was the case during the period of Schumacher's dominance with Ferrari, as well as during the years when Sebastian Vettel became world champion four times in a row with Red Bull. Now, Red Bull is dominating once again, this time with Max Verstappen behind the wheel, and Hamilton notices that Red Bull can once again shift their focus to the 2024 car much earlier than the rest of the pack. Hamilton proposes that no team should be allowed to work on the new car before August 1st. However, Red Bull team advisor Marko believes it is pointless to set a date to determine when teams can start developing the new car. "It cannot be controlled," he tells Motorsport.com.

In addition, Marko accuses Hamilton of hypocrisy: "It seems he has a rather poor memory. During Mercedes' dominant years, they also started working on the car for the following year much earlier than other teams," Marko knows all too well, as he spent years tirelessly striving to close the gap with the German team at Red Bull. "Back then, they primarily had a superior engine, one that could deliver far more horsepower than the rest. If you don't need to invest energy in this year's chassis, naturally, you'll start looking ahead to next year. That's simply how Formula 1 operates," Marko's words seem to confirm that the team is already primarily focused on 2024.

Red Bull will not slack off

Whereas Mercedes, in its peak years, primarily stood out thanks to a formidable engine, Marko believes that Red Bull currently excels in all areas. "We now have a combination of a very good chassis, a good engine and an exceptionally talented driver," the 80-year-old Austrian says, referring to Verstappen, who has won the last five Grands Prix. Additionally, Red Bull has been strategically strong for years now, and they consistently deliver the fastest pit stops. "The team also makes hardly any mistakes in terms of execution. We want to win as many races as possible, but our primary focus is on securing the world championships. Don't worry about that. Our team is absolutely not becoming too relaxed or complacent."