Sergio Pérez’s dramatic improvement this season is making Dr Helmut Marko’s job that much harder, after Jos Verstappen publicly made comments about the team not wanting the best for his son.
The incident occurred after the Monaco Grand Prix, where Sergio Pérez claimed a famous victory, and championship leader Max Verstappen finished third.
At the time, it saw Pérez close the gap to Verstappen in the standings, bringing the Mexican into title contention.
Jos was left unhappy with the team not prioritising his son; the Dutchman made this point clear via his column on the reigning World Champion’s official website.
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“Red Bull achieved a good result,” said Jos in the column.
“But at the same time exerted little influence to help Max to the front.”
It’s been dramatically revealed during the British Grand Prix that Marko himself called Jos, admitting that Verstappen’s father is “not easy” to deal with.
“Jos is great and that’s why Max has come this far,” Marko said in an interview.
“When Max came to Formula 1, at the beginning it was sometimes not easy with Jos. He had an opinion about everything – and still does, by the way.”
Red Bull’s top advisor went on to explain that Jos’ comments after Monaco were “particularly unhelpful”.
“It creates resentment within the team and gives your journalists something to write about,” the 79-year-old said.
“I called him right away – ‘What is this, Jos?’ Again, everyone can have their own opinion, including Jos. But he shouldn’t publish it on his son’s website.
“He said, ‘Yes, but I am the father’, which is fine, but don’t do it in that way. Anyway, Jos is Jos.
“He can sometimes get angry quickly and none of that is going to change.”
Whilst Marko understands where Max’s father is coming from, the Austrian is insistent that it’s him who calls the shots at the team, not Jos.
“I am the one who calls him to order,” Marko said.
“But nowadays, I rarely have to do that. Max knows I want the best for him.
“And if I correct him, he accepts it.”
Marko then turned his attention to the team’s performance at the British GP, where Verstappen missed out on pole to Carlos Sainz after first spinning, then being caught out by a yellow-flag.
Despite this, Verstappen has appeared incredibly quick at the Silverstone International Circuit despite struggling with the RB18.
“We are wrong with the setup – we can’t find the balance, we have understeer and oversteer and we have no grip at all in the slow corners,” he said to motorsport-magazin.com
Silverstone has seen a number of teams including; Ferrari and Mercedes, run upgraded cars.
This has seen the gap at the top close, with the 79-year-old believing the team will know more about where they are at when the weekend is finished
“After Silverstone we’ll know more,” Marko believes.
“We only look at ourselves.
“Our goal is therefore clear – full attack. We want to win every race. That’s the best way to defend the title.”
The team are aware of just how quickly the championship can turn around, as already seen this season and also last year when Verstappen was battling with Sir Lewis Hamilton.
“After three races this year we were 46 points behind, now we are 46 points ahead.
“Last year we came to Silverstone with a 32-point lead, two races later we were behind,” he told Auto Bild.
“This shows that you can never rest in a comfort zone in Formula 1,” concluded Marko.