F1 News: Helmut Marko Reveals Max Verstappen Issue Was His Fault
Max Verstappen, the winner of today's British Grand Prix, didn't have such an easy ride to the chequered flag as the newly upgraded McLarens showed their hand. Unfortunately for the Dutchman, McLaren's Lando Norris showed his performance just as the Red Bull driver was given a set of soft tyres.
With the McLarens fitted with hard tyres - an unusual choice but unexpectedly great decision by the British team - Norris was able to push Verstappen on the underperforming softs for the first time this season, with the Brit, for the most part, able to stay on the gearbox of the RB19.
In fact, Lando had led the race for a number of laps after a great start. But, inevitably, Verstappen was able to take and maintain his lead and finish P1, with Lando following in P2 and Mercedes driver Lewis Hamilton rounding out the trio in P3.
Reflecting on the race, consultant to the Milton Keynes squad Helmut Marko admitted it was his decision to fit those soft tyres, accepting responsibility.
Talking to the German version of Sky Sports F1, he said:
"The fact that we went to softs at the end was not ideal, Max and Hamilton had problems then. But fortunately the race was not that long."
Continuing, he also revealed what went wrong with Verstappen's start of the race where he quickly lost his P1 grid position to Lando who made a quick getaway.
"He released the clutch too quickly," he said simply.
Sergio Perez didn't have a great start to the weekend, qualifying P16 before moving up to P15 thanks to the lucky (for him) disqualification of Valtteri Bottas. He therefore faced the formidable challenge of crawling back up the grid. He finished P6: impressive, but not what you'd quite expect from an RB19.
"In the last 10 laps, he was the fastest driver in the field, and that while driving on soft," said Marko.
"Thank God he finished ahead of Alonso and extended his lead. That is our goal. His position is not in danger at all."