Helmut Marko avoids addressing Max Verstappen clash but hints at “frustration”

Helmut Marko didn’t address Max Verstappen's controversial incident with George Russell at the F1 Spanish Grand Prix but alluded to “a certain frustration” that clouded the four-time world champion.

The main talking point from Sunday’s race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was Verstappen’s seemingly deliberate collision with Russell.

The race turned on its head after the Safety Car because Verstappen was forced to run on the hard tyres.

Red Bull elected to put Verstappen on a three-stop strategy, which meant he had run out of softs.

On the hards, Verstappen was left vulnerable and immediately overtaken by Charles Leclerc, Russell tried to overtake but forced Verstappen off at Turn 1.

Verstappen kept the position by going off track, leading Red Bull to incorrectly tell their star driver to let Russell through.

This led to the moment of controversy where Verstappen collided with Russell at Turn 5.

Speaking to Sky Germany after the race, Marko didn’t directly reference the incident.

“I would say he was driving in front for a long time, and then because of this tyre choice,” Marko said.

“But as I said, we had nothing else and didn’t know that this tyre would be so bad in the warm-up phase. There was a certain frustration and that expressed itself in the driving style.”

Marko admits hard tyre was “wrong”

The timing of the Safety Car meant Red Bull were in a tricky position.

They could have kept Verstappen out on worn softs and given him track position over the McLarens.

Instead, they put him on the unfancied hard tyre, which no team used in the 66-lap race.

The hard tyre had difficulties warming up, causing Verstappen to have a huge oversteer moment on the exit of the final corner.

This cost him third to Leclerc after they briefly touched on the start-finish straight.

“We realised we had to take a risk to have any chance at all,” Marko explained.

“And that was the three-stop. Unfortunately, the safety car got in the way at the end.

“We only had the hard tyre left and that was definitely the wrong tyre. That tyre was especially bad during warm-up.

“And we saw Max’s evasive manoeuvre [after the restart]. But that’s how it goes: if you take a risk, it can also go the other way.

“Max obviously saw that he had no grip because of the bad tyre and he almost lost control. And then there was the situation with Leclerc. I don’t want to go into details about this either.”