Marko offers contrasting take on Spa qualifying result compared to Verstappen

Contrary to the sprint race, wherein Max Verstappen managed to win, Red Bull Racing adjusted the settings for the qualifying.

"We took significantly more wings. During the sprint, we already felt that we were far behind in terms of top speed," said Helmut Marko at ORF and Sky Deutschland.

This choice was deliberately made with an eye on Sunday. Thus, the Austrian racing team seems to have learned from Silverstone: "We assume it will rain tomorrow, and in that case, I think the setting is quite good. Therefore, I don't see a big problem there. We just didn't get it as optimal as we did for the sprint race."

At the end of Q3, the sun came out at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps. As a result, very few drivers managed to improve their time: "Such temperature differences, two to four degrees, making such a big difference, is something completely new. A complicated science," said Marko.

The Red Bull consultant is quite hopeful about the Belgian Grand Prix: "We are focused on the race and we are optimistic about that. Overall, the conclusion is very good. We have four cars in the top 10. Max made two mistakes, one of them serious. So that's fine."

Yuki Tsunoda managed to make it to Q3 for the first time in a long while. The Japanese, after waiting for a long time, also has new updates to his floor. This put him quite close to Verstappen in qualifying: "Especially Yuki participated for the first time."

"So overall we are satisfied," concluded Marko.

Verstappen was informed of Marko’s positive attitude during a media session with, among others, GPblog. The Dutchman laughed and replied: “Helmut is not in the car.”