02/06/2025 09:15
Red Bull motorsport advisor refused to address Max Verstappen's
Spanish Grand Prix incident with Charles Leclerc, but put the
Dutchman's clash with George Russell down to "frustration".
Verstappen had been looking set for a podium until a late safety
car, which saw the majority of the field pit for almost brand-new
soft tyres. The 27-year-old also pitted, but to his shock received
new hards. It worked against Red Bull dramatically, as Verstappen
could not generate heat into the tyres. A huge slide allowed
Leclerc to pull alongside down the start/finish straight on the
safety car restart, before contact was made. The stewards after
the race decided to take no further action; however, Marko refused
to "go into details" on the incident with the Ferrari driver. "We
realised we had to take a risk to have any chance at all," Marko
told Sky DE . "And that was the three-stop. Unfortunately, the
safety car got in the way at the end. "We only had the hard tyre
left and that was definitely the wrong tyre. That tyre was
especially bad during warm-up. "And we saw Max's evasive manoeuvre
[after the restart]. But that's how it goes: if you take a risk, it
can also go the other way. "Max obviously saw that he had no grip
because of the bad tyre and he almost lost control. And then there
was the situation with Leclerc. I don't want to go into details
about this either." Verstappen 'frustration' Verstappen was furious
to receive the hard tyres with it having also opened the door to
Russell, where contact was made at the first corner after the
safety car restart on lap 61. The four-time world champion skipped
the second corner and rejoined ahead of Russell, leading to Red
Bull instructing Verstappen to hand the spot back. Three laps later
and Verstappen drove into the side of Russell, resulting in a
10-second time penalty and three penalty points, which Marko puts
down to frustration. "I would say he was driving in front for a
long time and then because of this tyre choice....," added a
frustrated Marko. "But as I said, we had nothing else and didn't
know that this tyre would be so bad in the warm-up phase. There was
a certain frustration and that expressed itself in the driving
style."
