Red Bull is worried for Max Verstappen as Lewis Hamilton starts ahead of him on Sunday in Belgian GP, admits Helmut Marko

Verstappen will start on P6, three places behind Hamilton at P3.

Red Bull is worried for Max Verstappen as Lewis Hamilton starts ahead of him on Sunday in Belgian GP, admits Helmut Marko

Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen (Credits: F1)

Max Verstappen’s five-place grid penalty had the Dutchman demoted to P6 in the starting grid for Sunday’s race. Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton starts ahead of him on P3. Red Bull chief Helmut Marko has said that being behind Hamilton is very concerning for the team going into the race.

Hamilton and Verstappen’s 2021 rivalry is already etched into the history books. While Max Verstappen has been far ahead of him, some remnants of this rivalry can be seen on Sunday. Marko says that while the RB-19 is dominant in terms of tire wear and overall performance, Hamilton has been very fast as well.

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“Max was eight tenths ahead but we have a few tough opponents. Hamilton was very fast I assume he will be tomorrow too. You know the two are not the best of friends so the primary task is to get past Hamilton. In terms of tyre wear and overall performance our car is in a class of its own especially when we have DRS,” Marko told the media at Spa.

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Lewis Hamilton hit a five-second penalty in a clash with Sergio Perez

Sergio Perez
Sergio Perez (Credits: Sports Illustrated)

Lewis Hamilton and Sergio Perez went wheel to wheel in today’s sprint. While trying to beat one another, both the drivers collided with Perez ending up with a hole in his car. He suffered severe sidepod damage, which eventually caused him to retire. After the race, Hamilton was given a five-second penalty for the incident.

Sergio Perez was asked post-race about his thoughts regarding the incident. He said that his car’s sidepod and floor were damaged, so there was no way he could continue. Perez believes that Hamilton ran out of grip, so he couldn’t stop his car and rammed into him.

“Yeah, it was massive damage from contact from Lewis. He just took the whole right-hand side of the car, he damaged the floor and sidepod so that was game over. We lost too much grip with it. He just, I think, ran out of grip and couldn’t stop his car, and just went into my side… and that was very unfortunate,” said Perez.

Hamilton finished P4 in today’s sprint. After his five-second penalty, he ended up being P7, getting just two points out of the sprint. While Perez didn’t score any points today, he starts ahead of Hamilton tomorrow on P3, and will be looking to get another podium after his impressive run in Hungary.

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