Marko: Stewards not Verstappen's 'biggest fans'
Dr Helmut Marko thinks the F1 stewards are too hard on Max Verstappen.
Verstappen was penalised after a pitlane clash with Valtteri Bottas in Monaco, with the time penalty costing him a spot on the podium.
Not only that, his tally of 'license points' now stands at seven, meaning he will receive a race ban if he accumulates just five more.
Marko, the Red Bull driver manager, told De Telegraaf newspaper: "We were ahead of Bottas, but apparently Max can't do much good in the eyes of the stewards.
"I realise that they are not his biggest fans."
RTL also quotes Marko as saying: "Bottas was behind and could have given way too."
However, Mercedes' Toto Wolff thinks the penalty was justified.
"What Verstappen did ruined two races," he said. "He lost the podium and Valtteri also lost a position."
Later, Verstappen also clashed with race winner Hamilton in a desperate overtaking attempt at the chicane.
Former F1 driver Giedo van der Garde said: "There was light contact, but they let each other live. You can see that they have a lot of respect for each other."
But Marko thinks Hamilton was more to blame.
"In my opinion, Hamilton pulled over to the left," he said. He thinks a penalty for the five time world champion would even have been justified.
"With the red (Lauda) cap, that was certainly not the case," added Marko.
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Marko seems to be going through a Mad Phase. The unsafe release wasn't necessarily Max's fault but it certainly was RBR and if it gad been the other way around and his driver was just seven points off the world championship lead he would have gone ape. Then onto the incident when Hamilton was shunted by Max........come on........Lewis was mainly at fault......Really. If anyone was at fault it was Max but in my view it was a racing incident and Max was sensible enough to over commit, as he would have done last year, which would have taken both of them out. Helmut you really need to keep taking the pills every day because missing them out is doing your grey matter no good at all.
I re-played the Bottas/Verstappen incident a few times and in my opinion Bottas was for sure the victim. Taking pit lane safety into consideration, Verstappen's 5 sec. penalty is a joke! I miss Charlie Whiting...
I agree,the stewards had time to see that Bottas suffered a puncture from the contact
with Max.The correct penalty should have been a drive through not 5 seconds.
I agree. Have you seen that the racist is back on the forum?
Yes i have,one hopes that he will be removes ASAP,However people like him give others the strength to rise above such lowlife without further comment.
Ahh..the classic red bull taste of sour grapes is back again. Get some inya.
Marko and Mr Verstappen Senior probably both in on those comments. Would never see that Max is in the wrong. Take a look at his whole career. Monaco not unusual for Max, He will never change.