Marko Blames Hamilton For Collision After Speaking With Verstappen

Thursday, 25 July 2024 at 14:00

Helmut Marko revealed he discussed the Lewis Hamilton incident with Max Verstappen after the 2024 Hungarian Grand Prix.

Red Bull Racing driver Max Verstappen comfortably had enough pace to finish in P3 during the 13th round of the season at Hungaroring.

However, a combination of wrong strategy, a few mistakes, and an incident with Lewis Hamilton meant he ultimately crossed the finish line fifth, losing 8 points to Lando Norris (in P2) in the Championship.

Speaking to the media after the race, the triple World Champion was very unhappy with almost everyone within his team, but even more with stewards' decisions, at whom he took a jibe.

Verstappen was convinced that his collision with Hamilton was caused by the seven-time World Champion moving under braking, which is forbidden.

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In the end, stewards noted both drivers could have done more to avoid the collision and suggested it was a racing incident. Writing his column for Speedweek.com ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix, Helmut Marko said he discussed this incident with Verstappen and revealed what he learned:

"And then there was that final action, when Hamilton and Verstappen were lapping a Williams and Max spotted a gap, immediately went into that hole, and then there was a collision."

"I spoke to Verstappen about this: Of course, the wheels of his car locked when braking, but he would have made it through the corner, so there was no question of him losing control of his car. Max was ahead, but Hamilton turned in, and everyone could see what happened."

The Hungarian Grand Prix was a tough weekend for Red Bull Racing, but the 81-year-old pointed towards the positive conclusions of the weekend in the end, adding:

"So we ended up in fifth place, although we must not forget that in terms of pure speed, we were just behind McLaren."