Dr. Helmut Marko has dismissed speculation that Max Verstappen deliberately drove at a slower pace during the Zandvoort race to send a message to the Red Bull team.
At face value, McLaren's Lando Norris simply outperformed everyone in the Dutch Grand Prix, securing a win with an impressive margin of nearly 23 seconds over the formerly dominant Red Bull.
Following the race, Max Verstappen's outspoken father, Jos, renewed his criticism of team principal Christian Horner, describing the gap of "over 20 seconds (as) a huge disappointment" and asserting that "it's time" for Red Bull to take action.
"The good people are leaving the team," Jos told Bild newspaper. "I'm very unhappy with what's happening because Max cannot be happy with a car like this."
"Now it is up to Horner to get the team back on track. I'll be surprised if he does."
Meanwhile, Toto Wolff appears to have abandoned efforts to secure Verstappen for a Mercedes seat in 2025, although discussions are reportedly still ongoing with the triple world champion's representatives.
In an interview on the Inside Line podcast, Red Bull F1 team consultant Dr. Helmut Marko didn't even deny that Verstappen's management had met with Mercedes over the summer, stating it's "just natural" for Monaco residents to cross paths.
"Jos is a bigger fan of Toto than he is of Christian," the 81-year-old added.
The theory that Verstappen intentionally slowed down during the Zandvoort race was initially proposed by British F1 commentator Martin Brundle, who works for Sky UK.
"He knew he couldn't beat Lando and dropping back a bit like that, it's going to give the factory a hurry up, isn't it?" Brundle speculated.
"I'd be pretty sure of that."
Marko refuted this claim in his most recent column for Speed Week.
"Martin Brundle's assumption that Max was deliberately driving slowly is incorrect. You can't say that," stated the Austrian.
"When he saw that Lando was on the move, he stopped taking risks. But the difference to (Sergio) Perez was simply that he was driving with a different setup. We thought that with more downforce, Max would slide less. But it just made him vulnerable at top speed, and tyre wear was still high," Marko explained.
Christian Horner suggested this week that McLaren, and to some extent Mercedes, have recently gained speed due to an innovative approach to their front wing design.
"The McLaren and Mercedes wings bend at a completely different angle than the others," the Red Bull team boss said. "The way they use the front wing is very different."
"You're always trying to find out where your rivals have found their performance and I think the front wing is key."
However, Marko remains sceptical. "Norris' fastest lap without DRS right at the end shows how superior Lando was," he noted. "That means a lot of work and a lot of thinking for us."
"But it's not so much about simply finding new parts. We need the predictability of the car that we had at the start of the season again," Marko added.
"It's also nothing to do with the setup; it's more that something came along with the new parts that turned the balance into a negative one."
