Marko: Max’s aggressive style doesn’t suit new cars

Red Bull’s Helmut Marko claims that Max Verstappen’s driving style does not lend itself well to driving the new generation F1 cars.

The 2021 World Champion remains a leading force in Formula 1 following the switch to ground effect cars, the only driver so far to have challenged Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc for victory, succeeding in that mission at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as he made the pass late on to claim the win.

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However, over the previous three seasons at Red Bull, Verstappen was able to establish a regular pace advantage over his team-mate but that advantage, which often times was more like a gulf in performance, has been reduced in 2022.

In 2021, Sergio Perez’s first season at Red Bull alongside Verstappen, it was very rare for Perez to get anywhere close to Verstappen’s pace, especially over one lap.

This time around though, Perez outqualified Verstappen in Saudi Arabia, claiming pole for the first time in his career, while Verstappen managed only P4 on the grid.

At the other two rounds to take place so far in Bahrain and Australia, the gap in Verstappen’s favour has not exceeded 0.24s come the end of Q3.

But, rather than Perez suddenly finding a chunk of performance, Marko, Red Bull’s driver programme boss, feels the performance shift is more down to the