Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko understands why Max Verstappen was penalized during the recent Spanish Grand Prix. The Dutchman appeared to deliberately collide with the car of Mercedes rival George Russell – resulting in a ten-second time penalty, which pushed him back to tenth place on the grid. Marko, who was baffled by the entire incident, stated that ‘all hell broke loose’ in Barcelona.
Helmut Marko was interviewed on Monday evening by Austrian broadcaster Servus TV. Naturally, he was asked about the ‘decisive moment’ when Max Verstappen – according to some – ruined his race. After the restart, he lost his third place to Charles Leclerc, partly due to the hard tyres on his RB21, after which he got into a dispute with George Russell. The battle resulted in a frustrated Verstappen, who deliberately collided with his British rival.
“On the straight, I would say that Leclerc hit Verstappen’s car,” Marko began. Before the Ferrari driver overtook, he hit the Red Bull vehicle on the straight. “Then came the situation with Russell,” he continued. “You can see again that Max knows the regulations in detail. He immediately said: ‘Hey, he lost control, and that’s why I had to go wide.'” The Brit tried to overtake in turn one, pushing Verstappen off the track.”
‘Verstappen Will Not Have It Easy’
Despite this, Red Bull decided that Max Verstappen should yield his position to Russell, fearing further sanctions. This was unnecessary, as the FIA later announced. “The internal discussion was that it was 50-50,” revealed Marko. “But since we had just had the safety car, the impact of a time penalty was far too great. That naturally weighed in. But Verstappen didn’t want to give back the position,” Marko sighed, “although he eventually did so reluctantly.” This did not happen without a fight; in turn five, Verstappen seemed to deliberately collide with Russell – earning him a hefty time penalty and three penalty points.
“He let off the gas, so we all assumed he was letting Russell through,” the Red Bull executive said about the incident. “And then he suddenly accelerated again. I have no idea what he was thinking at that moment. And then, as they say, all hell broke loose. There have been problems in the past,” Marko pointed to previous incidents between Verstappen and Russell. “It was unnecessary and many points were lost,” he continued sternly. “But due to all the incidents and wrong decisions that unfortunately occurred, emotions got the better of us.” Marko joked in conclusion: “Verstappen will not have it easy.”
