Big confusion for Marko: "We heard it through the speakers"

Helmut Marko did not believe his ears when he heard that Max Verstappen is world champion. The Austrian thought his Dutch pupil was a point short, but because Verstappen was eventually awarded the full 25 points, he is unchallengeable by Charles Leclerc and Sergio Perez.

"Unbelievable. We only found out when the speaker said congratulations. Big surprise but a very nice surprise," Marko told Sky Sports. At Red Bull Racing, they didn't exactly know it all in the first minutes after the end of the race either. 

A big celebration is not in the cards for the Red Bull Racing men. Tonight, they are already leaving Suzuka. "Our flight is scheduled for 20:00 [local time]. We didn't expect to win it here," said the consultant, so the party will have to be postponed for a while. "But no worries, we will celebrate. We would like to win the next four races. Texas and Mexico are also good places for a party," Marko told ViaPlay

Marko at Sky Sports

"Max is far more relaxed and much more mature driver. A big step, I don't think this is the end of what we've seen of this performance. I thought the record of Michael [Schumacher] could never be broken, then Lewis [Hamilton] did the same. There has to be so many factors together. But he's not the type that goes for records," Marko concludes.