Helmut Marko believes Red Bull could have prevented Max Verstappen’s late clash with Lando Norris in the Austrian GP by informing the Dutchman about a pending investigation into the McLaren driver’s track limit abuses.
What looked like another dominant display by Verstappen painfully vanished into a showdown between the reigning world champion and Norris in the closing stages of the race.
After several close calls between the two drivers, the pair came to blows with just five laps to go when they collided at the Red Bull Ring’s uphill Turn 3 hairpin.
While Verstappen suffered a puncture that pushed him down to fifth at the checkered flag, the damage to Norris’ car was more significant and resulted in a DNF for the Briton.
But in the run-up to their clash, as Norris pushed to hunt down his rival in the wake of a problematic pitstop by Red Bull’s crews on lap 51 of 71, the McLaren driver exceeded track limits multiple times which earned him an official warning by the stewards.
Norris’ successive transgressions eventually earned him a 5-second penalty, as mandated by the rules, a sanction communicated shortly after his collision with Verstappen.
Marko reckoned that Red Bull’s strategists could have warned their race leader of the impedning investigation facing Norris.
"The victory was lost by several factors,” Marko told Servus TV after the race as he elaborated on events.
"The fact that the [second Verstappen] pitstop went wrong, Lando slipped into the DRS window as a result, and also our assumption that the hard tyres would be the better choice in hot weather, which was not the case.
"The temperatures were lower, meaning that Lando had fresh tyres in the last stint and we had used ones, which was also a factor.
"But I would say that both drove unnecessarily hard. We could perhaps be blamed for this: we knew that an investigation with track limits was underway against Lando.
"But we didn't know whether and how he would be punished. So, with hindsight, you could have said: 'OK, let him go'.
"But let's look on the bright side, we've extended our championship lead, both in the constructors' championship and in the drivers' championship."
Adding to the snowball effect, Marko pointed out Verstappen's own struggle on the out-lap after his second pitstop, when he locked up and nearly lost control and veered off course.
This further compromised his pace and allowed Norris, on fresher rubber, to close the gap significantly and mount a proper challenge for the win, a prospect that had seemed improbable earlier in the race.
“It was a really great battle at times,” acknowledged Marko, until it somehow degenerated into who was pushing who more, who was violating more track limits, instead of concentrating on finishing fairly".
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