“You all have to be innovative and courageous”: Max Verstappen exceeded Helmut Marko’s expectations with dominant outings at such young age 

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko showered praise on Max Verstappen and how he exceeded his expectations by dominating the sport at such a young age. At just 25 years of age, the Dutchman is already a two-time world champion and is well on his way to clinching the third title in the 2023 F1 season.

Speaking to De Telegraaf, Dr. Marko always believed that Max Verstappen would win races, but he did not expect him to dominate the sport and win titles at such a young age. He drew parallels with former F1 world champion Sebastian Vettel when he drove for Red Bull back in the early 2010s. He stated that the Austrian-British team has won 97 races in total and will soon hit a century. He said:

"When we brought in Max, I was always confident that he would win races, but not that he would be so dominant at this young age. But we also didn't think that with Vettel at the time. It shows that you all have to be innovative and courageous. We are now on 97 victories as a team: three more to go to the hundred. Unfortunately, it was not allowed to be that way so that our boss could experience this."

He sorrowfully concluded that this Red Bull's founder, Dietrich Mateschitz, won't be able to see his team achieve this milestone. Unfortunately, the Austrian who founded the team drew his last breath in April 2022.

Max Verstappen is currently leading the drivers' championship table with 119 points in his hand. Though his teammate Sergio Perez is not too far from him with 105 points, it is clear that the Dutchman will keep putting pressure on himself and try to stay ahead.

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Max Verstappen gives his thoughts on the pre-race show in the 2023 F1 Miami GP

Since the 2023 F1 Miami GP was somewhat of a special event in the F1 calendar, it had lots of fluff around it. The entire paddock was made inside the Hard Rock Stadium with several games, fan and celebrity interactions, etc. Right before the race, each and every driver was introduced in a glamorous manner by famous American rapper LL Cool J.

Max Verstappen was not too keen on having such a pre-race introduction and show in the coming races. In his post-race press conference, he said:

“Some people like to be more in the spotlight, and some people don’t. Personally, I don’t. So for me, what they did was not necessary. I prefer just to talk to my engineers, walk to my car, put the helmet on, and drive. I understand the entertainment value, but I hope we don’t have this at every single race, because we have a very long season ahead of us, and we don’t need to enter like that every time.”

It seems that drivers are split when it came to the pre-race driver introduction. While individuals like George Russell and Max Verstappen were not fans, Lewis Hamilton supported it and praised how F1 is adapting and evolving.