Red Bull advisor Dr. Helmut Marko believes Max Verstappen would’ve claimed pole position at the Belgian Grand Prix in an “AlphaTauri or a Haas”, given his ability in challenging conditions.
Qualifying at Spa-Francorchamps started in the wet, before the circuit dried up throughout the session.
By the time it got to Q3, the Soft compound were able to be used, with Q1 and Q2 having featured the Intermediates.
The circuit was still damp in places, testing the drivers to their limits.
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It was seemingly a breeze for the reigning World Champion though, as he claimed pole by eight-tenths of a second ahead of Charles Leclerc.
His advantage was ridiculous, yet he actually started the race from sixth following a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change.
Unsurprisingly, Verstappen worked his way through the field and was leading by Lap 17, before cruising to victory by just over 22 seconds.
It marked his eighth consecutive win and his 10th overall of 2023, extending his lead in the Drivers’ Championship to 125 points.
As a result, it’s just a matter of time until the 25-year-old becomes a three-time World Champion.
The Dutchman is simply unstoppable and is in a “class of his own”, which Marko thinks would be the case no matter what team he raced for.
“Max would be in a class of his own in any car,” Marko claimed, as per Motorsport-Total.com.
“The 2020 Max cannot be compared to the 2023 Max – apart from the fact that the name is the same. He has become hugely sovereign.
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“For me, Hamilton was always the master at reading races and how he managed his tyres. And Max is now on a par with that. If not even better because his basic speed is better. There has been a huge maturation process.”
Marko also spoke about the conditions during qualifying at the Belgian GP in particular and stated that he’d have claimed pole in an “AlphaTauri or a Haas”.
“If conditions are like that, he will put an AlphaTauri or a Haas, whatever car he has during qualifying, on the pole,” Marko said.