Helmut Marko: "Verstappen clearly moved ahead of Ricciardo"

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko believes that while Daniel Ricciardo was initially faster than Max Verstappen, the Dutchman “clearly moved away” in the latter part of last season. “There are specific data,” the Red Bull advisor told Autosport. “In qualifying the gap to Ricciardo is greater. In the race, he’s also a bit faster. “The strange thing is Max sometimes slides more, but still manages to keep the tyres alive. That has developed. When he came to us, it wasn’t like that yet. In the second year [2017] Ricciardo dropped back a bit, but he recognised that and then he worked intensively with his physio and other things on himself, so he came close to Verstappen again. But in the second half of the 2018 season, Verstappen has clearly moved away.” “The basic problems were a certain lack of control and impatience,” Marko said of Verstappen. “The point is Verstappen is fast enough. He doesn’t have to constantly prove that he’s the fastest. He doesn’t need that. He already has an image in the duel that it’s better not to mess with him.”

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