‘Max goes over the limit, he wants too much’

Max Verstappen was “over the limit” in qualifying for the Australian GP, ruining his chances of taking pole position says Helmut Marko.

The Austrian admitted he had hoped that winning last year’s Drivers’ Championship title would have brought “some calmness” to Verstappen’s style.

This year’s championship has seen Verstappen and Charles Leclerc emerge as the two drivers to beat.

But while Leclerc has twice got the better of Verstappen on grand prix Sundays, it is fair to say that the Dutchman’s Red Bull has also twice got the better of him with retirements in Bahrain and Australia. In both races he was running P2 behind Leclerc.

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That has left Verstappen down in sixth place in the Drivers’ standings, the 24-year-old on 25 points, 46 behind Leclerc.

Verstappen is also losing in the qualifying competition, the Dutchman yet to put his RB18 on pole position with Leclerc twice P1 and Sergio Perez beating them both to the coveted grid slot in Saudi Arabia.

Marko, though, reckons Verstappen missed out in Australia through his own over exuberance.

Leclerc leads Verstappen by 46 points already pic.twitter.com/Iwew02shIK

— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) April 10, 2022

“He goes over the limit, he wants too much,” the Red Bull motorsport advisor said as per formula1news.co.uk.

“That didn’t work out here in the last sector.

“We thought that with the World Championship title