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As a result, the 27-year-old will have to fight through the bulk of the top 10 to salvage a good result, with Marko noting that the team will be forced into an “aggressive strategy”.

“Well, we probably won’t start seeing the soft tyre again,” Marko told ORF. “Nobody has a set of new soft tyres left, but other than that, we still have to analyse it all.

“So a lot will depend on that, but in all probability it will also be a lot warmer during the race than on Saturday.

“And we have to come up with a more aggressive strategy anyway, since we are starting from seventh place.”

The sole boost for the reigning world champion is that his race pace looked promising throughout the practice sessions, to the extent that it was on a par with the McLarens.

However, with so much ground to be made up, Marko has recognised that a podium is off the cards, unless a crazy race takes place.

“It really won’t be easy,” insisted Marko. “If the race just goes normally, i.e. without too many peculiarities, a podium finish is not realistic…”

Join RacingNews365’s Ian Parkes and Nick Golding, as they dissect a scorching Austrian Grand Prix qualifying!

Full 2025 F1 Austrian Grand Prix starting grid

Helmut Marko hands Max Verstappen worrying Austrian GP truth