Marko Asserts Verstappen Is One 'Who Makes Difference' Despite Good Car
F1Tuesday, 09 April 2024 at 19:45
Helmut Marko stated after the 2024 Japanese Grand Prix that Max Verstappen is the one who makes the difference in Red Bull's results.
Would Red Bull be as strong and dominant as it is now without the triple World Champion Max Verstappen? That is one of the highly discussed questions nowadays.
During the third round of the 2024 season in Australia, the Dutchman didn't finish the race due to reliability issues, and it marked the end of his and Red Bull's nine-race winning streak that started in 2023.
Unfortunately, Sergio Perez couldn't replace the Dutchman as he didn't even finish on the podium. Christian Horner later explained that his car lost its performance due to unfortunate circumstances.
However, many pundits and fans took this opportunity to point out that once the team doesn't have Verstappen, it can't score proper points.
Considering this point of view, it is noteworthy that 22 out of Red Bull's last 24 wins were achieved by the Flying Dutchman.
After the most recent race at Suzuka Circuit, during which the 26-year-old beat his teammate by +12.535 seconds and Carlos Sainz in third place by +20.866 seconds, Helmut Marko suggested that Verstappen is the one who makes the difference:
"We have a good car, but then Max makes the difference once again. Everything was clear in Suzuka, but then Max drove this incredible fastest lap on worn tires."
"Not just for fun, but to get his message across: Hello, the rest of you are only there to finish second! There is hardly anything to find fault with."
Although he said Verstappen makes the difference, the 80-year-old praised the whole team for the great effort. Red Bull dominated not only in terms of the final result, but also in terms of the fastest pit stops.
"Everything was perfect right up to the last lap. The pit stops were also incredible: three in two seconds each."
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