F1 News: Helmut Marko Fires Blow To Mercedes - "We Don't Make Up Stories"
In a rather hot exchange of words between the two teams, Red Bull motorsport advisor Helmut Marko has hit back at Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff's recent comments on Max Verstappen's record of ten consecutive Grand Prix victories by saying, "We don't make up stories."
Red Bull has been busy counting its wins from all directions- be it their lead in the constructor's championship, their lead in the drivers' standings, or the fact that they've won every single race this season. In addition, championship leader Verstappen broke the record for the most number of consecutive wins.
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The achievements might be a huge thing for all parties concerned but Wolff was of the opinion that Verstappen's latest record was only good enough to be on Wikipedia. He said:
"I don’t know if he cares about the records. It is not something that would be important for me, those numbers, are for Wikipedia and nobody reads that anyway."
His comment however attracted quite a bit of criticism from former F1 driver and commentator Martin Brundle, who was disappointed and surprised by the way Verstappen's achievement was played down.
Marko hasn't been too far behind in responding to Wolff in the same manner. Suggesting that Red Bull doesn't consider Mercedes a serious opponent, he told GPFans:
"This is exactly the difference. We look at our own team and try to perform as well as possible.
"We are not involved with Mercedes as long as they are not a serious opponent.
"We look at ourselves, we do our best and we don't create stories for nothing like they do."
He also went on to express his delight at the latest record of the team and Verstappen:
"For Max, this winning streak means a lot. For me personally, getting the 100th win as a team was even more special than this, but it's fantastic for Max.
"I think it was very important for him to break that record. Now he's got it, so I think he's a bit more relaxed for the next races."
