Helmut Marko added that Max Verstappen’s overtaking abilities made them vote in favour of reverse-grid races. But he knew that Mercedes would reject the proposal.
Helmut Marko has yet again gone on the offensive, this time taking on Mercedes. He suggests Mercedes only know how to race from the front. And that is precisely the reason why they rejected the proposal of reverse-grid racing this season.
Helmut Marko takes a dig at Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes
Marko really wanted to see the proposal getting implemented. “If you want to do something like this, then now. It’s all messed up anyway.”
He belives Red Bull would have suffered too, but had confidence in the abilities of their star Max Verstappen. “I think Verstappen is more outdated than Hamilton. He is used to something like that. That’s why we have I knew that Mercedes was against it. Their strategy is to drive in front. They have that under control. Fighting from behind would have been new territory for them. ”
Verstappens overtaking abilities made Red Bull vote in favour of reverse grid quali races. Helmut Marko: “It was clear Mercedes wouldn’t agree. They only know how to race from the front. Fighting from the back would’ve been new to them.”
AMuS (in German): https://t.co/G1YUCyhVAo
— Tobi Grüner 🏁 (@tgruener) July 2, 2020
Marko played a significant part in “Return to Racing”
After the corona virus outbreak lead to all the first races in the calendar getting cancelled, Marko knew somehow had to do something. And he put it on himself to being the cars back on track.
Formula One took inspiration from European football restarting all across the continent, and running successfully. What helped more was the fact that motorsport is not a contact sport.
Helmut Marko saw an opportunity to get the F1 season started in Austria instead of the traditional Australia.
“So I called Chase Carey and told him we could still organize a Grand Prix. Then we negotiated with Liberty how we should change the contracts.”
Marko adds: “The original concept was only improved once. Our advantage was that we already had a good template for our involvement in the German Football Bundesliga. It was then adapted to our needs. Naturally insanely detailed and over-cautious.” Red Bull play in the Bundesliga via their team Red Bull Leipzig.
After a lot of hustling and negotiations, FIA and FOM came up with a 73-page plan entitled “Return to Racing”. And the rest is history, with the first race taking place this very weekend.
