The Max Verstappen furious Show we witnessed yesterday during the Hungarian Grand Prix was triggered by several reasons. As usual, Helmut Marko took stock of the sporting ones.
The Red Bull Racing consultant, who recently renegotiated some clauses in his contract with the Austrian manufacturer, explained clearly what led the three-time world champion to literally lose his temper during the Budapest race.
The updates brought to Hungary for the RB20 did not work as initially expected, and this was already a point that had a certain relevance in Max’s nervousness. Then, the straw that broke the camel’s back, which had evidently been full for some time, was the mistake made by the pit wall in the strategy that led the Dutchman to receive an undercut from both the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton. This then resulted in contact with the 7-time world champion, which ruined Max’s race.
“The main mistake was that we underestimated the delta we needed to overtake. Our strategy was based on the idea that with the right tyres we could overtake as we did last year. But there was no way. So, in hindsight, we overestimated the chances of overtaking during the race,” admitted Marko.
“We thought our plan could work using the right tyres, but overtaking was almost impossible. That’s why we lost third place today and even gave it back after the first lap incident, just to be safe. We wouldn’t have beaten McLaren today, but we could have been much closer to them.”
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB20, Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Marko also spoke about how the team will handle the situation in the coming days after the harsh words that Max reserved for his pit wall during the race.
“Max and I will sit down and discuss it calmly. I understand that he expected more from the updates, but look at Saturday: if we had been two hundredths ahead of the McLarens in qualifying instead of five hundredths behind, which could have actually happened, then it would have been a different story.”
Red Bull also wanted to clarify the situation that saw Verstappen stay awake until 3am to take part in a sim race.
“In Imola he stayed awake even longer. I don’t know where his sleep times came from. And in Imola he won the race,” Marko said. “Max has a different rhythm to me and other people and the time he went to bed is nothing extraordinary for him. He didn’t even wake up at 10am in Zandvoort when the helicopters flew over his motorhome. He reached his sleep quota. He slept as usual. It’s nonsense.”
Red Bull Racing team principal Christian Horner added: “I think people draw conclusions, but Max knows what is needed and we trust his judgement.”
“He knows what it takes to drive a Formula 1 car, win races and become world champion. And then, as a team, we always work as a team. Any discussion about how to improve will never happen through the media.”
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