Marko on bad luck: "Normally the championship would have been ours already"

Max Verstappen fought his way back up to second place at the Qatar Grand Prix. The Dutchman had to start from P7 because of a grid penalty for ignoring a double yellow in qualifying. Helmut Marko explains his thoughts about the race.

"Our speed was a lot better than during qualifying. If Max had started second, it would have been closer. Now he logically lost some time in the early stages and had to ask more of his tyres in that. We didn't have the perfect car set up this weekend compared to Mercedes. Hamilton just got better with every session," Marko told The Telegraph.

Despite Lewis Hamilton's victory, Verstappen is still leading the championship. However, Marko is not comfortable about it. "We are ahead, but I definitely don't feel comfortable yet. We have to win one of the last two races, it's as simple as that. Everything has to be perfect during a weekend. It's only between Max and Lewis, the others are nowhere. Hamilton's engine won't have as much power as it did last week in Brazil. Besides, I don't think they used their 'special' rear wing here because the difference in top speed was smaller. We are not giving up."

Red Bull must fight back

There have been more unexpected moments this season. The Red Bull advisor, therefore, does not dare to predict anything with two races to go. "This year, so often things turn out differently than predicted beforehand. On paper, the circuit in Brazil was our best chance, but earlier in Austin that was again said about Mercedes and we won. Max lost a lot of points in Baku, Silverstone and Budapest."

"Normally the championship would have been ours already. We have to fight back now. If you can't handle pressure, you're in the wrong business," Marko said.