Marko hits back at Mercedes: 'They're not a serious opponent'

Helmut Marko has unloaded on Mercedes in the wake of the derisive comments made by Lewis Hamilton and Toto Wolff who both played down Max Verstappen's achievements.

It's been an extraordinary campaign so far for Red Bull and its star driver, with the pair steam rolling the championship.

Red Bull has yet to be defeated in 2023, and pundits now see the Milton Keynes-based upholding its 100 per cent win rate until the end of the season, which would be a historic first in Formula 1.

But in the interim, Verstappen's contribution to his outfit's supremacy saw the Dutchman claim at Monza his tenth consecutive win in F1, which represents a new landmark record.

And all signs point to team and driver continuing their relentless forward march in the back half of the season.

Read also:

• Brundle: Wolff and Hamilton wrong to 'play down' Verstappen record

However, in the Mercedes camp, Hamilton and Wolff are unmoved by Red Bull and Verstappen's remarkable exploits, let alone by the stats they have produced.

Last weekend in Italy, a laconic Hamilton shrugged off his former arch-rival's feat: "I mean I don’t care about statistics in general, good for him," commented the Briton.

As for Wolff, the Austrian also contemptuously brushed off Verstappen's record, insisting the numbers were "irrelevant" and only worthy of a mention in Wikipedia, which "nobody reads anyway".

Mercedes' sour grapes raised a few eyebrows in the paddock, with Sky F1's Martin Brundle and Damon Hill both calling out Wolff and Hamilton for their deriding attitude.

Speaking on Servus TV, Marko begged to differ with Wolff regarding Wikipedia's resonance.

"Wikipedia is one of the most read media - maybe someone can tell Wolff," said the Red Bull motorsport boss.

"That's the difference between us and them," he added. "We look at our own team to get the best performance.

"We just go about our business without making up all these kinds of stories like they do. But we don't worry about Mercedes as long as they are not a serious rival for us."

When queried last weekend in Monza on the seemingly resentful remarks from the Mercedes camp, Red Bull team boss Christian Horner chose not to add any more fuel to the fire burning between the two teams.

"Look, I don't want to get drawn into commenting on that," said the Briton.

"Max is driving at an unbelievable level and I don't think there's anybody in the world right now that could beat Max Verstappen in this car, that's for sure.

"I think you have to recognise and applaud what Max is doing at the moment, we shouldn't detract from that in any way.

"In sport, very rarely things like this happen, and it's a golden moment for him and certainly a golden moment for the team."

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter