Max Verstappen speaking with Lando Norris
Never mind a slightly slow out-lap after his pit stop nor a wobble or two as he chased down Max Verstappen, Helmut Marko reckons it was a Will Joseph radio message to Lando Norris that “wasn’t helpful” at Imola.
Despite Verstappen appearing to be on track for his fifth victory of the season at the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix on Sunday, Norris sparked excitement with a powerful surge in the final stages of the race.
Helmut Marko: ‘I don’t think it was the deciding factor’
Closing to within DRS range of the Red Bull driver, Norris ran out of laps and had to settle for second place, a mere 0.725s behind Verstappen.
Verstappen conceded that he had to exert significant effort to secure the victory, as he faced difficulties with grip upon switching to the hard tires. Meanwhile, Norris witnessed a remarkable transformation in his MCL38’s performance.
However, Marko believes that Norris’ suboptimal out-lap and a few mistakes he made while closing in on Verstappen did not play a significant role in Verstappen’s victory.
When asked about the McLaren driver’s out-lap, he told Sky Deutschland that he doesn’t believe it was the determining factor. He emphasized the repeated use of “if”.
What mattered was our good performance on the medium tyre, while McLaren proved to be faster on the hard tyre.
“The temperature dropped after completing a couple of laps, causing us to miss the optimal tire window.”
“He drove absolutely flawlessly,” he exclaimed, praising Max’s incredible performance.
“Fortunately, Lando encountered a couple of wobbles during his recovery, which ultimately kept him from entering the DRS zone. Thank goodness for that!”
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However, he believes that the messages from Norris’ race engineer to the Briton may have had an impact.
Joseph, the race engineer, had already informed the driver that he was “pushing” when he mentioned Charles Leclerc’s pace. Later in the race, Joseph was once again on the radio as the Briton battled with Verstappen.
He said, “Lando is happy to push Turn 9 a little bit more.”
Norris responded by saying, “I am putting in my utmost effort, my friend. Appreciate it.”
Marko believes that those messages would have been more irritating rather than motivating.
“He conveyed an intriguing radio message from his engineer, who was pushing his driving skills to the maximum. The engineer suggested that he should further accelerate,” he reported.
“I believe he was genuinely bothered by that. It was definitely not beneficial to be distracted in a moment requiring concentration.”
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