Helmut Marko Takes a Jab at McLaren’s Italian Grand Prix Strategy, Thanks Them for ‘Sportsmanship

Helmut Marko takes a dig at McLaren, sarcastically commending their “sportsmanship” during the Italian Grand Prix.

“I value that, and it slightly improves our position," he remarked.

Helmut Marko humorously expressed his gratitude to McLaren for their "sportsmanship" following their loss of the Italian Grand Prix F1 race win.

McLaren is currently trailing Red Bull by only eight points in the F1 constructors' championship.

The team from Woking might have been at the top of the rankings if they had achieved first and second place at Monza.

Nevertheless, their choice to transition Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to a two-stop strategy proved to be expensive.

This enabled Charles Leclerc to seize the lead in the race, maintaining his position with a one-stop strategy.

Norris secured third place, which cut Max Verstappen’s lead in the drivers’ championship by just eight points. Verstappen is now ahead by 62 points as they approach the Azerbaijan race.

In an interview with the Dutch newspaper de Telegraaf, Marko rejected the notion that it was a "disappointing result" and then ridiculed McLaren.

"A disappointing outcome? Absolutely not," he remarked. "We anticipated this to some extent and I’d like to extend my congratulations to Ferrari for their win and express my gratitude to McLaren for their fair play."

"Thank you, that improves our situation somewhat."

Red Bull had a tough weekend as Verstappen managed to secure only a sixth-place finish.

Finishing in sixth place marks his poorest performance on the track since the Sao Paulo Grand Prix in 2022.

As Red Bull faces significant challenges, their standings in both championships are at risk, especially with the upcoming races in Baku and Singapore, where the tracks are not anticipated to favor them.

The positive update for Red Bull is that they have a month-long break before the series of races in America, offering them valuable time to possibly develop solutions to help Verstappen secure his fourth world championship this year.

Marko is sure that Verstappen will keep being a key player in 2024.

“He remains the top driver in terms of both mental strength and overall quality,” he stated.

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