“Which still exists during the corona[virus] era”– Red Bull chief reveals extent of Max Verstappen’s illness during USGP

Red Bull chief Helmut Marko fully reveals Red Bull ace Max Verstappen’s illness during the United States Grand Prix at Austin.

Both Red Bull drivers had a difficult race in Austin, yet they managed to grab the desirable results. Several reports revealed that Verstappen was suffering from an illness.

Now he reveals the exact extent of the illness, which slightly caught the Dutchman off-guard. According to him, it was a cold virus, which is still present in the COVID-19 era.

“He had a normal cold virus, which still exists during the corona[virus] era, which made him falter a little,” Marko explained to Germany’s Sport1.

“Only at the beginning of the race did he not feel really fit. But he drank a lot in the cockpit [and] that made it better.”

Max Verstappen is your Driver Of The Day! 🙌

He takes his first win in America in style👊#USGP 🇺🇸 #F1 @Max33Verstappen pic.twitter.com/5mhiUWvhiF

— Formula 1 (@F1) October 24, 2021

Also read: Nico Rosberg predicts this F1 driver will be future world champion

Max Verstappen’s illness didn’t kill his focus

Though Marko is impressed that despite suffering beneath the helmet, the 24-year-old hardly lost his focus. And eventually won the race at Austin,

“There was never any danger to him,” Marko said. “On the contrary, the speed he showed in the race was unique. But not only that, the overview he had at every phase of the Grand Prix was also astonishing.”

“For example, he still had the capacity to point out during the race that now would be the right time to tactically deploy Sergio. This is actually the job of the engineers in the box.”

Looking forward to the next challenges

Red Bull will be vying against Mercedes in Mexico in the next round of the 2021 season. Marko believes that they have a reasonable edge over the Silver Arrows over there.

“Actually, the next two races in Mexico and Sao Paulo should traditionally suit us more than Mercedes because of the altitude,” Marko explained. But we don’t want to rely on it, but [we will] try, as in Austin, to get the best out of our package.”

Also read: Toto Wolff says Christian Horner is like little actor in Hollywood pantomime

About the author

Tanish Chachra

Tanish Chachra is the Motorsport editor at The SportsRush. He saw his first race when F1 visited India in 2011, and since then, his romance with the sport has been seasonal until he took up this role in 2020. Reigniting F1's coverage on this site, Tanish has fallen in love with the sport all over again. He loves Kimi Raikkonen and sees a future world champion in Oscar Piastri. Away from us, he loves to snuggle inside his books.

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