Red Bull’s top executive, Helmut Marko, reacted with admiration on Saturday evening to Max Verstappen‘s performance, who surprisingly snatched pole position in Jeddah right under the nose of Oscar Piastri. “This is the Max-factor,” the Austrian declared immediately after the qualifying session in Saudi Arabia.
While Max Verstappen exceeded himself, McLaren rival Lando Norris parked his car in the wall in Q3. “Max is the fastest driver and mentally very strong,” Marko praised the four-time world champion from Red Bull.
Marko: “He was not good on the long runs on Friday, but afterwards we made the right adjustments to the car and he built on that well. If Max has a good start tomorrow and doesn’t suffer from dirty air, then it looks good. And this time he only has one McLaren right behind him…”
British World Championship leader Lando Norris will start from P10 on Sunday. “And it’s hard to overtake here,” Marko responded pointedly.
