Marko on Mercedes quarrel: 'Hadn't escalated so much with Lauda'

The title fight between Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton has generated a lot of tension between the Red Bull Racing and Mercedes teams this season. Helmut Marko could not always appreciate the fight and often missed Niki Lauda.

Lauda was the non-executive chairman of Mercedes for many years and thus had an important role with the German racing team. The three-time Formula 1 world champion had the gift of getting along well with almost all the teams, often solving problems before they made it to the media.

Since Lauda's death, the unrest has increased according to Marko. This season the tension really erupted when Verstappen's car suddenly proved capable of competing with Hamilton. Both teams then pulled out all the stops to make things as difficult as possible for their opponents and seemed to know few limits in doing so.

The Red Bull advisor didn't think that was a good thing and idly watched as the teams didn't always take a sporting approach to each other. "It hadn't escalated so much with Lauda," Marko commented in conversation with ServusTV. "It would certainly have been tough, because he didn't like losing either. But it would have gone with more composure."