Helmut Marko Takes a Jibe at McLaren’s ‘Sportsmanship’ After Costly Italian Grand Prix Decision Boosts Red Bull’s Championship Hopes

Helmut Marko takes a jab at McLaren with a comment about "sportsmanship" during the Italian Grand Prix.

“I value that, and it slightly improves our position.”

Helmut Marko humorously expressed 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 Formula 1 constructors' championship.

The Woking team might have topped the leaderboard after the Monza race if they had managed to achieve a first and second place finish.

The choice to move Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris to a strategy involving two pit stops proved to be an expensive error.

This enabled Charles Leclerc to seize the race lead, which he maintained using a one-stop strategy.

By finishing in third place, Norris managed to cut down Max Verstappen's lead in the drivers' championship by just eight points, making the current gap 62 points as they head to Azerbaijan.

In an interview with the Dutch newspaper de Telegraaf, Marko rejected the notion that the outcome was "disappointing" and went on to ridicule McLaren.

"Was it a disappointing outcome? Not at all," he remarked. "We had anticipated this to some extent, and I want to extend my congratulations to Ferrari for their win and express my gratitude to McLaren for their fair play."

"I’m grateful for that; it improves our circumstances somewhat."

Red Bull had a tough weekend as Verstappen could only manage to come in sixth place.

His sixth-place result is his poorest performance on the track since the 2022 São Paulo Grand Prix.

As Red Bull faces significant challenges, their standings in both championships are at risk, especially with the upcoming races in Baku and Singapore, which are anticipated to be unfavorable for them.

One positive for Red Bull is that there's a month-long break before the series of races in the United States, offering them valuable time to possibly figure out ways for Verstappen to secure his fourth world championship this year.

Marko is optimistic that Verstappen will keep being a game-changer in 2024.

He continued by stating that Max remains the top driver both mentally and in terms of quality.

Explore Further

Breaking News

Recent Updates

Website Navigation

Crash.Net

©1999-2024 Crash Media Group

Copying or reproducing text, photographs, or illustrations, either in full or partially, is prohibited in any manner.