Well, Helmut Marko who is sorry. That doesn’t happen often.
Even if it looks like Max Verstappen can’t break an egg, he still performs too well to surprise. He also did this yesterday during qualifying for the 2023 Abu Dhabi GP.
During the first free practice, ‘the youth’ were allowed to drive the RB19. We put the youth in brackets, because one of the drivers – Jake Dennis – was older than Verstappen himself. That puts the Dutchman’s performance in a different perspective.
Difficult weekend
In the two remaining training sessions, Verstappen was also unable to get the car right. It was only at the end of the last free practice that there was a eureka moment. They simply changed something – according to Ted Kravitz, a rear anti-roll bar – and that ensured that Verstappen could compete for pole again.
That’s what everyone thought, except Uncle Helmut Marko. This Austrian talkative will never say something he doesn’t mean and that was also the case yesterday. In fact, he was so sure it wouldn’t work out that he made a bet with Christian Horner. Marko bet 500 euros that Verstappen would NOT get pole. Horner bet so.
Helmut Marko has regrets, yes really
In the end it is clear how it turned out. Verstappen still took pole position and was able to pay 500 euros from Horner
In FP3 we lost half a second in the third sector alone. So it was also a kind of bet. Christian said we would go and get the first row and I said no, maximum the second row. I lost the bet, but I am very happy that our engineers did a fantastic job with the right adjustments and of course that Max delivered. I should really know Max by now.
Helmut Marko, now has 500 euros less than before.
It’s not that we don’t believe it, on the contrary. But occasionally it looks a bit like the periods when Mercedes had a very difficult time in training. That Lewis Hamilton accidentally took pole position and completely unexpectedly won the race. At least, that was the case for him. A little less for the viewer.
Anyway, the Abu Dhabi GP starts at 2:00 PM. Wondering which bet Marko has made now.
Through: Motorsport
This article Marko regrets underestimating Max Verstappen first appeared on Autoblog.nl.
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