“He will have at least one or two changes,” Helmut Marko anticipates grid penalties for Charles Leclerc in the future
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Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko with Max Verstappen
The Azerbaijan Grand Prix went into the hands of Red Bull after another surprising win due to Ferreri’s DNF early in the race. The starting grid of the race saw Charles Leclerc on pole, followed by both the Red Bulls of Perez and Max, and then on P4 came the Ferrari of Carlos Sainz. But as the race started, Lecler’s cold mediums and brakes caused him to lock up his left front tyre, which made him lose the lead to Sergio Perez in the first corner. After Sainz’s early retirement from the race, Red Bull had only Leclerc to target.
Watch: Jos Verstappen’s LAST WARNING For Red Bull!
But Red Bull had a certain luck today after Charles Leclerc suffered from an engine failure, too, and this meant an easy victory for the Red Bulls. This is not the first time this season where Ferrari have retired due to engine issues; other cars with Ferrari engines were seen retiring too, Kevin Magnussen’s Haas, Zhou Guanyu’s Alfa Romeo.
Helmut Marko anticipates that in addition to this, Ferrari would face grid penalties in the future as well due to engine and gearbox changes from the team.
Also read: Max Verstappen pleased with Red Bull 1-2: “A really good day for us”
Marko states that Red Bull wants a “fair fight”
Helmut Marko stated that although Ferrari might face grid penalties later in the season, Red Bull would still want a fair fight for the title. As GPBlog quoted him, “We want a fair fight, but I think Leclerc is already into the third engine. He will have at least one or two changes and grid penalties.“
Marko also explained why Charles Leclerc was difficult to chase for Verstappen in the first couple of laps when he had his lockup. He said that it was because of the slipstream the Monegasque was getting from Perez. “Overall, it was a bit unfortunate for us that Leclerc had slipstream from Perez in the first few laps, so Max didn’t get past immediately. But then we saw what we suspected, that we were absolutely the fastest in race,” Marko stated.
Verstappen further extended his lead at the championship after this victory, and Sergio Perez managed to move ahead of Charles Leclerc on 2nd to follow up Max.
Also read: “Shit happens,” Max Verstappen symphatic of Charles Leclerc’s misfortunes in Baku
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Gunaditya Tripathi
(274 Articles Published)