Marko sees Verstappen's victory slip away: "Stood with his back against the wall".
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Helmut Marko has clarified why the pit stop of Max Verstappen lasted more than four seconds during the Spanish Grand Prix. According to the Red Bull Racing advisor, there was a misunderstanding between Gianpiero Lambiase and the Limburg driver during the first stint at the Barcelona circuit. After that Marko saw that the RB16B was a lot slower than Mercedes on the mediums.
"Max came in uninvited. But our people reacted fantastically, especially because he came in at the last minute. It was a misunderstanding," Marko told ORF when asked about Verstappen's first pit stop of the race. Lambiase had said over the banking radio that the Dutchman should come in on the next lap. "Verstappen meant this lap, somehow it was misunderstood," he said.
A two-stopper seemed in the making, but in the end, Verstappen and his team decided to stay on the track. That choice didn't work out happily. Very many other options were available to the Austrian formation, however. " There was no good time left to change tyres. The pace of the Mercedes was clearly higher than ours. We had our backs against the wall," he explained.
Perez not in top-four
Sergio Perez could not help his teammate. The Mexican had to come from eighth place and eventually drove to fifth place, behind the Ferrari of Charles Leclerc. The 31-year-old driver never managed to get involved in the fight at the front. Qualifying, in particular, was disappointing, according to Marko. "That would have made it an easier race. But Perez is on the right track. I hope in Monaco."