Helmut Marko rubs salt in McLaren wounds as Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri put on notice

Helmut Marko was delighted with Red Bull's steps forward at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, declaring that the Milton Keynes squad have 'the same or better tyre wear' than McLaren. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri will need to sit up and take notice after the title fight was reignited.

Piastri looked well set to scrap for a fourth successive Grand Prix victory after beating Verstappen to pole position on Saturday, but the Dutchman took the lead at Turn One and never looked back.

Most expected Piastri and even Norris to mount a significant challenge to Verstappen, as McLaren's immense tyre wear capabilities have previously allowed their two drivers to overtake the Dutchman deeper into stints. However, that did not materialise and the four-time world champion opened up a three-second lead over the Australian in second.

When Piastri came in to attempt an undercut, McLaren's stop was slow and he filtered out onto the racetrack in traffic. Over the course of 15 laps, Verstappen was able to maintain a 32-second gap to the championship leader, killing off his dreams of a fifth race win of the campaign.

"I think the updates that have been implemented have now had their full effect," Red Bull advisor Marko told Sky Germany after the chequered flag. "We were actually the same or better than McLaren in terms of tyre wear.

"And Max did his laps. Then the safety car came at the end, and there went the 18-second lead. We were a bit nervous, but then he pulled away impressively."

Verstappen now trails Piastri by 22 points in the Drivers' Championship standings heading into the second leg of this European triple-header in Monaco next weekend, and Norris is only nine points ahead of the Red Bull driver in second.

Critically, Red Bull are awaiting the Spanish Grand Prix technical directive in a fortnight's time, which will clamp down on front wings. Reports have suggested that this could have a detrimental effect on McLaren's speed, although Andrea Stella's squad have passionately contested those comments.

"I think there's an unknown as to how it will affect the different cars," Christian Horner explained at the Japanese Grand Prix earlier this year. "You can see that the operating window of these cars is very, very narrow, and that front wing change is quite a significant one. So it will be interesting to see how and who it affects. There's no guarantees."