Helmut Marko jokes Red Bull wanted to make USGP interesting with Max Verstappen’s poor pit stop

Red Bull finally clinched its fifth constructors’ championship title in F1 after eight years as Max Verstappen sealed victory at the USGP.

At the USGP, Max Verstappen clinched the victory and brought home the Red Bull F1 team its fifth constructors’ championship title.

The Milton-Keynes-based team now has both the titles of the 2022 season having already scored the Drivers’ Championship at the Japanese GP.

Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko was left with mixed emotions after having lost his close friend Dietrich Mateschitz, the owner of Red Bull, a day before and then turning up as the champions of the 2022 season.

Talking about the Dutchman’s poor pit stop, despite which he turned out victorious, Marko joked that the team just wanted to make the race interesting.

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Mercedes at the front gave extra motivation to Red Bull

Following multiple safety cars and a poor pitstop, Verstappen found himself behind the Mercedes. At this point, Lewis Hamilton and the Brackley-based team saw a ray of hope to clinch their first win of the season as Hamilton took charge of the pack for several laps.

But the 2-time world champion’s RB18 was more powerful and by expertly managing his pace, Verstappen overtook Hamilton in the final stages and crossed the chequered flag.

Speaking about how the race turned out, the Red Bull advisor explained that there were several factors that gave the team extra motivation.

He said that the team wanted to win in order to forget the sad day that loomed upon them and Mercedes running at the front of the RB18 gave the team extra motivation.

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Marko showers praise on Sergio Perez

Perez has always played the part of second fiddle to Verstappen perfectly and has often been praised for his performance.

At the USGP, the Mexican driver lost a wind end plate but he managed to keep up with the pace at the track. Marko explained that usually when that happens to a driver in qualifying, the driver labels the car as undrivable.

However, at the COTA circuit, Perez drove steadily and did not see the need to replace the nose of his RB18.

The Austrian advisor also said that in the second half of the race, Perez drove as fast as Max. The Mexican also fell prey to an inferior pitstop which is why he could not overtake Charles Leclerc for P3.

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