Helmut Marko believes F1 bosses should be careful when making decisions, and that they could convince Max Verstappen to leave the premier class if they continue to be of little use.
“Max needs to be taken seriously, he has achieved a lot, but it is important that he has fun and enjoys the sport as a whole” Marko told Formel 1. “If it becomes more and more difficult for him, he will lose interest in F1 and when he says it’s over, he will mean it. But I hope the current situation will not push him to retire soon.”
“There are double standards, and what’s more, he wasn’t talking about a person. He was talking about the car, about an object, and in a casual way. Okay, it was in a conference of afternoon press, but if everything is handled so strictly, it will be handled differently in the future.”
“But this is clearly excessive. I read this judgment very carefully and I had to smile a little because part of the reasoning said: ‘Max argued at the hearing that this was simply the language that he had learned as a young pilot.”
On a sporting level, Verstappen is coveted by Mercedes, and if he were to leave, George Russell and an exchange would be an interesting position: “But we just want to take the time to look at the options we have for the future, and we’re not afraid to go outside of our driver pool.”
“George Russell is out of contract at the end of next year. It would be stupid not to take that into account. There are other drivers – talented drivers – who could well be out of contract as well.”
And Marko recalls the impressive level of Russell at Mercedes, even if this track is currently distant: “George Russell is at the same level as Hamilton in qualifying, if not faster. But George Russell is linked to Mercedes-Benz and now I think we focus on our young drivers.”
Marko recognizes that young drivers sometimes come into their own when they start out in Formula 1, and he also salutes the impressive Franco Colapinto: “We see this with Colapinto, for example, which was relatively inexperienced and did not have much success in promotional formulas.”
“But what an incredible performance he is putting on now! And now let’s see what our juniors, or even a Yuki Tsunoda, can do. He can also be considered a junior, but how does he compare to Lawson ?”
“I think Colapinto has a long-term contract with Williams and he is definitely someone for the future. What he showed in Baku and Singapore was very, very good, but I cite him as an example .”
“We can also cite the case of[Oliver] Bearman, which shows that Formula 2 juniors have the potential to perform in Formula 1, and that we cannot always count, as in the past, on drivers who already have five or three years of experience.”
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