Helmut Marko issues Max Verstappen apology with Red Bull ‘entirely’ to blame in Hungary

Red Bull senior advisor Helmut Marko pinned full blame on the team for a flawed Hungarian GP strategy which enraged Max Verstappen.

It was hard to find any example of a happy Max Verstappen during the race, with further fraught discussions taking place over team radio between the Dutchman and his race engineer Gianpiero ‘GP’ Lambiase.

Helmut Marko’s sincere apology to Max Verstappen

Strategy was a key spark for the Verstappen rage, the World Championship leader undercut by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton and then by Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the second round of pit stops. “It’s quite impressive how we let ourselves get undercut and just completely f**ked my race,” he vented.

Verstappen was unable to re-pass Hamilton in the second stint before colliding with his former title rival in another attempt during the third and final stint, Verstappen going on to finish P5. Marko pinned full blame on Red Bull for getting it all wrong with their overtaking expectations.

“It is clear that this is entirely the fault of the team,” Marko told Austrian broadcaster ORF.

“All simulations resulted in a different delta for overtaking manoeuvres. But we completely misjudged it and Mercedes took advantage of that.

“I haven’t met him [Verstappen] yet, but I will soon. We consciously accepted this [the team radio frustration] because we thought we would be faster on newer tyres later. If you know Verstappen, you know this is possible. But it is not necessary on board radio.

“That wasn’t the case and we couldn’t pass Hamilton. That’s our mistake and the position in which Max came back on track after the first pit stop was also our fault. We admit that we made a mistake. It was a gross error of judgement with regard to overtaking.”

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With Mercedes and McLaren having gained significant ground on the previously dominant Red Bull, a major upgrade package was introduced for the Red Bull RB20 at the Hungaroring. It was not enough to strike back against McLaren though, who stormed to a 1-2 finish, Oscar Piastri taking his first Grand Prix win ahead of Lando Norris.

With Verstappen P5 only and Sergio Perez recovering to P7, McLaren has reduced Red Bull’s Constructors’ Championship lead to 51 points with just one race to go until the summer break, Marko admitting that off period is very much needed for Red Bull, although he does not want it to be panic stations.

“We urgently need it,” said Marko in reference to the summer break.

“In the first three races we thought we were going to have a similar season to last year, but then suddenly there was the turnaround.

“Max is not used to that and we are also not used enough to the fact that you have to fight hard with competitors. That’s something that makes it better for fans and journalists, of course, but we have to endure that situation and eventually master the situation.

“We’re still in the lead in both championships. There are still a lot of races, so we shouldn’t pretend that everything is lost. But we absolutely cannot afford the small and easy mistakes.”

Verstappen was asked by media after the race whether his criticism of Red Bull over team radio in Hungary went too far, but he had a very blunt response to anyone raising that question.

“They can all f**k off,” was his reply.

“I mean, of course, I’m annoyed but I’ve been annoyed before – sometimes you press in the radio to voice your opinion and that’s what I did today hoping that, maybe, the second pit-stop will be a better call.

“But it wasn’t. But, for me, that is not distracting when I’m driving. Of course, I’m annoyed, but you also then focus back on what you have to do and that’s, of course, controlling the car.”

Verstappen’s Drivers’ Championship lead was also cut, with closest challenger Norris now 76 behind.

Read next – Revealed: Every word exchanged between furious Max Verstappen and Gianpiero Lambiase