Marko at a loss to understand Verstappen ‘misjudgment’ in Spain

Red Bull’s Helmut Marko has admitted to being baffled by Max Verstappen’s aggressive and ultimately costly actions as he watched “all hell break loose” in the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix.

Queried on Monday evening by Servus TV on the controversial finish that saw Verstappen collide with George Russell and slump to 10th place, Marko confessed that even inside Red Bull’s own camp, there was confusion and frustration over the reigning world champion’s behavior.

What had started as a solid run toward the podium unraveled after a late safety car on lap 61, when Charles Leclerc snatched third place from Verstappen at the restart.

From there, tensions quickly boiled over as Verstappen tangled with Russell in a sequence of increasingly erratic decisions that left Red Bull scrambling to minimize the damage – and Marko searching for answers.

“Max didn’t want to give the position back,” Marko revealed. “But he was instructed to do so – he did it under protest.” But what followed was even more inexplicable – and damaging.

Watching All Hell Break Loose

Loosing traction on the exit of Barcelona’s final corner on the restart, Verstappen saw Leclerc slip past, but the true drama began when Russell attempted a bold move into Turn 1 shortly after.

Verstappen initially claimed Russell had run him off the track, which forced him onto the escape road, although he sill managed to rejoin ahead of Russell.

“On the straight, I’d say Leclerc drove into Max’s car,” Marko recounted. “Then came the situation with Russell.

“And you have to say, Max knows the regulations in detail. He immediately said, ‘Hey, he was out of control, and that’s why I had to go wide.’

“The internal discussion was that it was 50-50. And since it happened right after the safety car period, the impact of a 10-second penalty is much greater than if it happens mid-race.”

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But Verstappen’s problems didn’t end there. After reluctantly giving the position back to Russell, he appeared to lift off the throttle on lap 64 on his approach to Turn 5 – suggesting he was letting Russell through – only to then accelerate again and veer into the Mercedes driver.

“Max lifted off the throttle, so we all assumed he was letting Russell through. And then suddenly he accelerated again,” said a clearly perplexed Marko.

“I don’t know what kind of misjudgment or thought process was going on inside him. And then, as they say, all hell broke loose.”

The result was a 10-second time penalty and three penalty points on Verstappen’s super licence, placing him uncomfortably close to a potential race ban.

“Emotions simply got the better of him”

While Verstappen later owned up to his mistake on social media – calling the incident “not right” and saying it “shouldn’t have happened” – the damage was already done.

Marko, who agreed with the stewards’ decision, didn’t try to defend the behavior but instead offered context: Verstappen’s history with Russell may have fueled the miscalculation.

“There have already been issues in the past,” Marko acknowledged. “It was unnecessary, and a lot of points lost. But, because of all the incidents and wrong decisions that unfortunately happened, emotions simply got the better of him.”

Even within Red Bull, the aftermath was subdued. There was no lengthy debrief following the race in Barcelona.

“Everyone goes their own way. And when Max is in a mood like that, the best thing is to leave him alone,” said Marko.

He also couldn’t resist a wry remark about Verstappen’s rare admission of fault: “An admission from Max doesn’t come easily.”

On the back of the controversial episode, Verstappen will head to Canada under pressure to reset emotionally and tactically.

For Marko, who has seen his fair share of flare-ups involving the Dutchman, one thing is clear: Red Bull can’t afford many more weekends like this – regardless of what’s going on in Max Verstappen’s head.

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