F1: Marko raves about Max Verstappen

To say that Red Bull Motorsports Consultant Dr. Helmut Marko thinks Red Bull driver Max Verstappen is the best driver is an understatement.

–by Mark Cipolloni–

Marko says Verstappen is the superior factor, not the RB19:

“It’s Verstappen. You have to compare it with Perez. If we look at the race pace , then Checo is among the top five drivers, but his weak point is qualifying.”

“The RB19 is certainly the most universal and the fastest car of the moment, but it is the superiority, this obvious superiority, that comes from Max Verstappen.”

Marko says Max Verstappen could take Pole Position with a Haas or AlphaTauri in those wet/drying conditions during qualifying at Spa:

“If such conditions exist, he puts an AlphaTauri or Haas on Pole.

“Max would be in a league of his own in any car.”

“The Max of 2020 cannot be compared to the Max of 2023 – except for the similarity in names. He has gained incredible confidence.”

“For me, the master of reading the race has always been Hamilton, the way he managed his tires. And now — Max has caught up. If not even better because he’s better in terms of raw speed. An incredible maturation process has taken place.”

“Our car is certainly good, and we have developed it well after last year.”

“Surprisingly, our competitors Ferrari and Mercedes are disappointing. They have failed to develop their car further and are still struggling with various problems.”

Red Bull Ignores what others are doing

Red Bull Chief Designer Craig Skinner: “We’re just doing our own thing”

“We genuinely don’t know [what aren’t other teams doing]”

“We are just focusing on ourselves, we can’t worry about what other people are doing or not doing, you just do the best that we can, and we just focus every day and every week on making ourselves better.”

Is Verstappen’s dominance making F1 boring?

Raymond Vermeulen: Domenicali says Max is what Formula 1 needs.

Max’s manager was asked if his client has saved Formula 1 by generating new interest with his performance in the last few years:

“I think ‘saved’ is a big word… Formula 1 would have existed without Max. I think Max is one of the trendsetters in this field; Formula 1 itself says that too. When I speak to Stefano [Domenicali], he also says: ‘What Max does is what the sport needed’.”

Max on Max

Max Verstappen on Red Bull dominance and consistency being key to his outstanding performance

“Of course it’s a combination of the two [car and driver]. I think I’ve driven a few good races myself, but in the end you can’t do that without a very good car, so of course that always has to coincide.”

“Every weekend it’s at the little details. Anyone can go hard, but go hard at the right time and stay out of trouble.”

“In the end, to be World Champion, you just have to be consistent and perform consistently. That’s always the pressure I put on myself to get it done as well as possible.”

Fisichella would pick Verstappen

Giancarlo Fisichella tells whether he would rather choose Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton in his ideal team

“Verstappen.

“Max has something extra and gives the impression of driving with one hand.”