Marko explains Verstappen's problem: 'Power was fine'
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Max Verstappen had to deal with bad luck again during qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix. The Dutchman had the provisional pole position in his pocket, but during his second run, things went wrong. Helmut Marko explains the problems of the Dutchman.
After his spin in the first run, Charles Leclerc had to pull out all the stops in Q3 to set a fast lap in the final phase of qualifying. It looked good for Verstappen, but while the Monegasque set a faster time, the Dutchman sounded frustrated over the onboard radio: "No power!"
The loss of power meant that Verstappen was unable to defend his provisional pole, but Red Bull can at least breathe a sigh of relief. For the problem was not with the engine, but with the DRS. "The DRS didn't open. The power was fine, but the fact that it didn't open gave him [Verstappen] the feeling that something was wrong with the engine," explained Helmut Marko at Sky Germany.
Mechanical defect Verstappen
"Everything was fine with the engine. It was a mechanical defect on the rear wing. We have to see what was going on. It's a shame because the pole was in the bag," said the Red Bull advisor. At least it is a good sign for Sunday's race that there are no reliability issues with the engine.