Max Verstappen messed up — and there’s no more room for doubt. Even Helmut Marko is calling him out.
A small feud, a major misjudgment, and a huge penalty. After an already tough Spanish Grand Prix, Verstappen’s final laps turned into a full-blown disaster: contact with George Russell, a 10-second penalty, three penalty points added to his Super Licence, and a P5 turned into a P10. A move as pointless as it was damaging… and confirmed by Marko himself.
Speaking to Autosport, the Red Bull advisor didn’t hide his disappointment:
“Max lifted off the throttle, it looked like he was letting Russell through. Then suddenly he hit the gas again. I don’t know what he was thinking. And then, well… all hell broke loose.”
A costly mistake: the title slips away, a race ban looms
That incident cost Max five positions and handed him a triple blow: lost time, lost points, and a hit to his image. He now sits at 11 out of 12 penalty points on his Super Licence — just one away from a race ban. Worse still, it reignited the growing tension with Russell.
“There’s a small feud going on,” Marko admitted. “And this time, emotions got the better of Max. He knows the rules inside out, but he got it all wrong. There’s already been trouble between them in the past. Sadly, due to poor decisions, we lost some very important points.”
Marko’s final comment says it all — echoed by the team’s silence both online and in the paddock:
“When Max is like this, the best thing is to just leave him alone” – he ended.
Verstappen later posted an apology on social media, blaming “high emotions and frustration” for the move. But the facts remain. Max — Super Max, or perhaps Mad Max this time — has jeopardized his championship hopes and now stands one step away from sitting out a race. All because of a move that, from a driver of his caliber, is hard to justify — even inside Red Bull.
Photo: Oracle Red Bull Racing, Formula 1
