Marko with critical note: "Somewhere the youngsters should be ashamed"

All is going very easily for Max Verstappen so far this season, and that has not escaped Helmut Marko's notice. That only Lewis Hamilton and Fernando Alonso came close is not a positive thing, according to the Red Bull Racing advisor.

"Somewhere the youngsters should be ashamed of themselves," Marko is quoted as saying in Canada by Swiss Blick. That there are only two drivers who can make things difficult for the World Cup leader is striking to the Austrian. "The two greats who are the only ones who can get on Verstappen's nerves a bit are together already over 80: Fernando Alonso and Lewis Hamilton!" Incidentally, Alonso (41) and Hamilton (38) combined are just barely over 80.

Marko's words do need to be put in context. Sergio Perez, of course, had to come further from behind and make his way through traffic, the same goes for Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc. Finally, about the Ferrari drivers, Marko also said that they might have been able to compete for the win, as the SF23 was fastest on both tyre compounds. On the other hand, Perez, Sainz, and Leclerc were also responsible for a mediocre qualifying session themselves, making them hopeless in advance on Sunday.

Does competition make up time?

Still, the gap between Verstappen and the number two was not as big as in some other GPs. At the finish, the Dutchman was just under 10 seconds ahead of Alonso. Is the competition closing in on the Austrian racing stable? "This has two sides. On one side they have come closer to us, yes, on the other side we only have four real corners here and we have not been able to get the tyres in the right window, especially the hard tyres," Marko told German-language television.