Max Verstappen rejects Helmut Marko’s ‘lost interest’ comment

MEXICO CITY – Resurgent Formula One champion Max Verstappen rejected a suggestion he had “lost interest” when Red Bull were struggling earlier this season, and said he had always fought hard for every point.

The Dutch driver was responding at the Mexico City Grand Prix on Oct 23 to a comment by Red Bull consultant Helmut Marko, a close ally who has played an important role in the Dutch driver’s career.

“Max at one stage when we were not competitive, I would say he lost a little bit of interest,” the 82-year-old Austrian told Sky Sports in Texas last weekend, after the driver won the sprint and main race from pole position.

Verstappen fell 104 points behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri at the end of August but has since roared back with three wins in the last four races.

He is now

40 points behind the Australian with five rounds remaining

and back in contention for what would be a fifth successive title.

“Of course it’s more enjoyable coming to the race weekends like this than knowing that you don’t have a chance to win,” the 28-year-old, a five-time winner in Mexico, told reporters.

“But I know for myself that when I sit in the car, I always try to maximise everything that I have. And I give it everything. So even if I’m fighting for fourth or even ninth, I will always try to get the best out of it.”

Verstappen has a keen interest in sports car racing, competing and winning in the GT3 category at the Nurburgring in September.

Marko had suggested the driver was allowed to do that “to keep him in a good mood”.

“Now that the car is working, and his success at the Nurburgring, I would say two tenths just came from him because he’s really motivated... you don’t hear him shouting, he’s smiling – that’s what you need,” he added.

Verstappen said the Nurburgring race had been arranged far in advance and he had been competing online during the season and on F1 weekends for years.

“There’s nothing really that has changed in terms of how professional I approach my race weekends,” he said.

Verstappen also said the upturn in the car’s performance was a “combination of a lot of things”, including upgrades that allowed it to run in a different configuration.

“These cars are super-sensitive, right? So you’re sliding a bit less, the tyres also work a bit better and that gives you also better race pace.

“So it’s a lot of things that just came together that suddenly unlocked quite a bit more pace within the car. And that gives me more confidence and allowed us also to set up the car a little bit more aggressive.”

Meanwhile, Lewis Hamilton hopes Ferrari can repeat their 2024 Mexico City Grand Prix triumph this weekend, but teammate Charles Leclerc sounded a more pessimistic note, saying a victory looks out of reach without “strange things happening”.

Carlos Sainz, who is now driving for Williams, delivered Ferrari’s last victory 12 months ago in Mexico, with the team now on a 23-race winless streak.

“I think we were very strong here last year. So I’m hoping that we can take the learnings that they had last year and apply them this weekend,” Hamilton, who has yet to stand on the podium since joining the Italian team in January, told reporters.

Leclerc struck a more downbeat tone about Ferrari’s immediate prospects.

“At the moment, it doesn’t seem very likely that we are going to fight for the win this weekend, but never say never,” he said.

“Last year obviously was a very positive weekend for the team. Carlos was actually very strong the whole weekend and it was difficult for me to get close. I hope we can reproduce that, but I feel like we are further away compared to last year.” REUTERS, AFP