Marko contradicts Verstappen: "He doesn't just want to break records, but crush them"

Red Bull Racing is impressing this season with one of the most dominant win streaks in Formula One history. One by one, records are being broken and, for now, no one seems to be able to do anything about it. Max Verstappen leads the championship comfortably and equaled Ayrton Senna's number of victories at the Canadian Grand Prix. Although the Dutchman keeps insisting he is not concerned with records, Helmut Marko says he is. The Red Bull top advisor sees in Verstappen exactly what the Red Bull vision means.

With the victory in the Canadian GP, Red Bull achieved its 100th win in Formula One. For Helmut Marko, who co-founded the Red Bull F1 project, it was a special moment. "We never thought we would reach a hundred victories. When Dieter Mateschitz bought the Jaguar team, a middle-of-the-road team, we just gambled on it. We hoped maybe one day to win a race," Marko said on The Inside Line podcast. It has since become clear that there was much more to come than just that one victory. With the 100th victory, Red Bull joined a very exclusive line of teams. Marko played an important role in this success as an advisor and talent scout.

Two F1 greats were brought in by Marko and helped the team to multiple championships: Sebastian Vettel and Verstappen. When asked for a comparison between the two, Marko named some fundamental differences. "With Verstappen, everything goes naturally for my feeling. Vettel, on the other hand, was very focused on all the details and the data. He planned everything well and prepared everything neatly. I think Verstappen does things with greater ease than Vettel, more by nature. They're both great drivers of course, but that's where the main difference is.'"

"Verstappen doesn't want just want to break records, but crush them"

Verstappen fits the Red Bull philosophy perfectly, according to Marko. "Our philosophy has always been to have success with young drivers. We want to accompany them on their way to the top and then harvest together. Now we have Verstappen and have committed to a long collaboration. This is really an ideal scenario." After several difficult years, now is the time for Red Bull to reap. Marko points out that his team suffered considerably during the Mercedes dominance, but sees that those years also bore fruit. "We suffered, but we got through that and now we are the team to beat. We have managed to keep the team together and that is bearing fruit."

Those fruits are breaking all kinds of records. Both Red Bull and Verstappen are breaking all kinds of records. The Dutch driver always indicates that he does not care about records, but according to Marko that is not true. "Verstappen motivates the team very much to keep performing. He always says he doesn't care about records, but he knows them all by heart and is definitely working on them." Verstappen's hunger encourages the team to stay sharp and get the most out of them, even when things are very easy. "He doesn't just want to break the records, he wants to crush them," the Austrian concludes.

"Horner is right for now"

Verstappen won't stay with Red Bull forever, of course, so Marko is also keeping an eye on the junior classes and other F1 teams. With AlphaTauri, the Austrian has the opportunity to give potential Red Bull drivers a chance, so that team is also being kept under particular scrutiny. Marko was keen to give Nyck de Vries the chance, but faced Christian Horner in this. The Red Bull team boss felt that De Vries did not have it in him to really reach the top, while Marko saw this potential. "We eventually chose De Vries, but for now Christian (Horner, ed.) seems to be right," the Austrian admitted.