“I think it would have been very close,” Helmut Marko believes Max Verstappen would have caught Charles Leclerc at the Spanish GP

“I think it would have been very close,” Helmut Marko believes Max Verstappen would have caught Charles Leclerc at the Spanish GP

Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen

Max Verstappen won last weekend’s Spanish GP. In doing so, he climbed ahead of Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc at the top of the driver standings, now sitting 6 points ahead. Not only that, he extended his win streak to 3 races in a row, and his record of winning every race that he has finished this season.

Charles Leclerc retired out of the lead after suffering a power unit failure, having led the race for 27 laps and with a very comfortable margin over George Russell in 2nd. Max Verstappen was running third at that point, having dropped two places after being caught out by a gust of wind, but was allowed to pass Perez and left to battle with George Russell. It had been a very comfortable race for Charles Leclerc, who did not even need to come into the pits till lap 22 – and when he did, he was 27 points in the lead.

While it seemed that Charles Leclerc would be cruising to an easy victory – after a spotless weekend, no less, where he topped all practice sessions and started on pole position, it did not happen that way. Instead, Max Verstappen took his fourth victory of the season and the championship’s lead.

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However, Red Bull advisor, Dr. Helmut Marko believes that the race result would have been closer than people thought it would have been and that Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen were evenly matched on the race track.

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Helmut Marko: “I think the cars would have been very close.”

Helmut Marko and Max Verstappen
Helmut Marko and Max Verstappen

Dr. Helmut Marko’s prediction for the weekend actually came true. He had predicted for the race that Mercedes would be ahead of Ferrari and Red Bull on top of both of them. Of course, this came true in a rather unexpected way due to Charles Leclerc’s retirement.

https://twitter.com/LappedCars/status/1527699787855831043?s=20&t=UpL_58Nw-u1cdYeU11-Dcw

Helmut Marko is happy with the victory in Spain but was curious to watch what would have happened had Leclerc not been forced to retire from the race. In an interview with ORF, he said:

“I think it would have been very close between those two [Leclerc and Verstappen]. Maybe the three pit stops against their planned two pit stops would have worked. I think the cars would have been very close.”

Spain was a very successful weekend, both for Red Bull and Max Verstappen, as they managed to take the lead in both their respective championships. Red Bull are currently twenty-six points ahead of Ferrari, and Max Verstappen is six points ahead of Charles Leclerc at the top of the table. They will go into this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix hoping to extend their respective leads at the top of the table. Charles Leclerc and Ferrari will hope to do the opposite.

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