Marko: "Verstappen could've won!"

Red Bull advisor Dr Helmut Marko thinks that his driver Max Verstappen could have won the American Grand Prix on Sunday, even though the Dutchman finished second after starting 18th.

The 21-year-old received a lot of praise from the media after another very impressive comeback race, as he harvested yet another Driver of the Day-award in the process. Verstappen started 18th but found himself in fifth after just seven laps, and after Red Bull's tactics to start on softs and then switch to supersofts paid off, he finished in second place, just ahead of Lewis Hamilton.

Marko speculates that Verstappen probably would have won the race if he would've started at the top of the grid rather than behind the entire midfield.

"From 18th to second place, that's great," he opened to Speedweek.

"If Max had started at the front, he would have won this race.

"The fact that the finish was no longer possible was due to a critical situation: when he tried his attack on Raikkonen, he himself came under pressure from Hamilton and had to defend.

"After that [attack from Hamilton], the Finn was safe."

Verstappen himself also admitted that he was a bit surprised that he finished as high as he did, as he had to go through two Mercedes cars and a Ferrari to get where he ended. Still, his eighth podium of the season, and he's starting to show the maturity and the consistency that many people say he lacked as a young driver.