Marko towards Wolff after Verstappen victory: "Greetings to the empire"

Helmut Marko saw Max Verstappen soar to victory in the sprint race to secure pole position for the British Grand Prix. The Dutchman extended his lead over Lewis Hamilton in the World Championship, but on the other side of the garage, the grapes were extremely sour. Sergio Perez spun from P5 and will start from last place on Sunday.

Marko mainly focuses on the positive points. Verstappen became the first man ever to win a sprint race in Formula 1. "More important than the record are the three points. We said to Max: you have to decide at the beginning. Overtaking is not possible on this track. That's what he did then, repel all attacks and show who's boss in the house. Greetings to the empire."

With that last sentence, the Red Bull Racing adviser at ORF responds to Toto Wolff's statements after qualifying. The Mercedes team boss then stated in an interview: "The empire strikes back." However, Marko is anything but impressed and at the end of the day, Verstappen simply has pole position behind his name in Great Britain.

The tyres had a hard time in the sprint race. "It was a nail biter because we also had quite a bit of vibration. I think Bottas at least had that, and Hamilton's tire deteriorated quickly too. So it's going to be a very difficult thing tomorrow. We will have to think carefully about the tyre strategy," said the chief executive of the Milton Keynes-based team.