A filmmaker with a soft spot for Ronnie Peterson, Gilles Villeneuve, Mika Hakkinen and above all, Tazio Nuvolari and Ayrton Senna, is also a diehard Formula One fan since the age of 4 (mid-90's). An avid researcher of the past of Grand Prix Racing since before it was even named F1, and with a thirst for knowledge of the ins and outs of the actuality of the sport, as well as for the technical aspects that define it, is a member of GPblog since 2023, where he has put his love of racing to good use.
Despite Oscar Piastri pipping Verstappen to P2 in the sprint race at the Shanghai International Circuit, Helmut Marko was not really impressed with McLaren, and strips McLaren's 'unbeatable' label clean off.
McLaren disappointed Marko quite a lot. "Yes, they couldn't match Ferrari. There was no speed, with Norris too. That whole race was very strange. From what I heard on the radio, Norris was complaining that he had no grip. In any case, it shows McLaren is not unbeatable. At Ferrari, Leclerc was actually also driving on the carcass [the tyre], only he was still very fast," Marko said in conversation with the Dutch branch Motorsport.com.
Marko on Verstappen's third-place finish
Marko was asked if P3 was the highest possible for Verstappen. "I would say yes, yes. Around the seventh lap, it looked like Ferrari would actually get into trouble, but they recovered and unfortunately after that the tyres went off on Max quite quickly.
"The crazy thing is that on the last lap his tyres improved a bit again and then suddenly he went eight tenths faster than before. Very crazy," Marko concluded.
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This article was written in collaboration with Esteban den Toom.
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